


The Fate Lies In You

by HanHan_Solo156



Category: Rammstein
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Cyborgs, Experimental, M/M, Minor Character Death, Robot/Human Relationships, Robots, Time Travel, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:08:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25552558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HanHan_Solo156/pseuds/HanHan_Solo156
Summary: In the year 2020, humans and machines are in war. In Berlin, General Paul Landers leads the last remains of humans, a group called The Faith Rising, who have survived during the “cleansing” by the machines. They think that pure humans are inferior creatures that should first be enslaved and then wiped out of the world. Lorenz Corporations, the company that first invented the artificial intelligence that accidentally went out of control, launches a new destroyer model T1-LL20 that can go back time. It’s task is to eliminate young Paul before The Faith Rising would even be formed.When Paul’s best soldier and secret lover Richard Kruspe is fatally wounded in the war, they have choices to make: choices, that could change history, or ruin all the hope they still have.
Relationships: Richard Kruspe/Paul Landers
Comments: 49
Kudos: 54
Collections: Rammstein - Time travel - July prompt





	1. The Dystopia

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya! Another challenge! This time with the prompt "time travel".
> 
> So what can I even say besides I got way too excited about this story... it has been in my head for a while and now it finally had a chance to come out. This is going to be a longer story at some point, these two chapters are kinda sneak peek to what is coming.  
> I love sci-fi movies, especially the ones that show us different aspects what could happen in the future and what will be our humankind's destiny. This fic is inspired by great movies Terminator 2, Gattaca, Blade Runner and even Back to the Future. The overall theme is pretty dark, and there will be some minor characters even dying - just to warn you beforehand. But there will be some nice romantic and humorous moments as well.  
> I'm not expert in science/physics or anything, so maybe all the things I describe here are not 100% credible - but heck, traveling back time doesn't make any sense, so maybe it doesn't matter, haha!  
> Some themes I want to explore in this story are possible scenarios if we give technology the lead, human/cyborg relationships, time travel etc. I also noticed that maybe these pandemic times also impacted this fic.
> 
> But enough rambling already, enjoy the story!

~***~

_In the smoking ruins of humanity,_

_We are forced to stop and ponder,_

_Was it all really worth it?_

~***~

2020, the ruins of Berlin

~***~

“No matter where I go I would never find a face more beautiful than yours,” a war hero, general Paul Landers said while he stroked the cheek of the man who was lying under him in a creaky bunk bed. The man was Richard Z. Kruspe, Landers’s best soldier - but more importantly, his secret affair. 

On Richard’s sculpture-like features there was a long recent scar reminding where they were: in the dystopian future, desperately trying to fight back the machines that humans first invented who had ended up turning against them. But right now, when the two lovers were sharing a bed the horrible conditions around them were almost forgotten. “Everything in you is so goddamn _perfect_ it’s difficult to even comprehend.” Careful not to hurt the other man, Paul trailed his index finger along the scar and stopped. For a while, he didn't say anything - just enjoyed the view.

“I know it looks rough,” Richard said when he got worried for Paul being so quiet. “I know I should do something about it but--”

Paul placed a finger on Richard’s lips. “Shh, that’s not at all what I meant.” He tilted his head and smiled. “I like it. It belongs to you.”

Then, Paul lowered his head and whispered right next to Richard’s ear. “But do you know what else belongs to you?”

When Richard just blinked his eyes under his lover, Paul added: _”Me._ Always and forever. _”_

Richard gasped in shock: both for the sweet words and also for the fact that general Landers, _his_ Paul Landers, was guiding his hand somewhere lower.

With closed eyes, Richard said with a husky voice: “You know my love that… that we shouldn’t do this.” Paul was getting all the time lower and lower, marking Richard’s neck at the same time. ”A-after all, I’m a soldier and you are my superior. Besides, we are not allowed to form relationships, it’s too dangerous and you know it perfectly well as you were the one who made those... rules.”

”You see, as a general, I can interpret the rules as I want. And as your superior, you should obey me,” Paul said against Richard’s shoulder and placed a kiss there. “Or are you questioning me, love?”

“Whatever you say, sir, whatever you say...”

That was the last thing Richard managed to say before Paul’s talented hands took him over and he saw only stars.

There was no questioning it: that beautiful moment they both would treasure in their hearts for the rest of their lives.

In the languid aftermath of stellar sex, Richard lit up a cigarette and sat down by a windowsill while still being naked. Like every single goddamn night - as a result of the overuse of oil and other polluting substances no one had cared about before nature couldn’t handle them anymore - there was the same hue of grey outside. The air was so full of dust they always had to cover their face when they wanted to leave the ramshackle that was their so-called home. Or more so, there wasn’t a concept of home in this world as they were constantly on the run.

That was the case for humans who had been exiled to their own slums whilst the cyborgs and robots, who were considered as superiors, had their own pollute free places to live. After all, they were machines, freed from the confinement of the greediness and primitiveness humans still had in their veins - and that was something that should be getting rid of, the super-intelligent machines claimed. If found, humans were forced for concentration camps, being slaves for the rest of their lives. The ones who didn’t accept their fate suffered the most horrifying death possibly: being executed publicly.

Like the history was repeating itself: only now, the humans had stumbled on their own intelligence and lust for progress.

“Do you still remember the fresh smell of spring? The birds singing? How it was when we could do what we wanted before all this madness started?” Richard asked with wistfulness in his voice. “Sometimes I can’t help but think how our lives would have turned out if… anything of this wouldn’t have happened. If everything was still normal.”

Paul came right next to Richard and stroked his bare shoulder. “Who defines what is normal and what is not?”

Richard turned to look at his lover. Though the general looked weary he still managed to smile while the other man started to explain: “But I mean seriously. Do you ever wish everything was as it used to be? That you wouldn’t have had to form this army? You could have just been… yourself. Have a wife, kids, and some simple job somewhere. Have a two weeks holiday in Greece every year with your family. Watch your kids grow up.” Richard turned his head back to the dirty window and sighed. A thin rat was running outside, trying to find something to eat from the miserable street and its packed trash bins. “All we have now is to worry whether we are going to be executed today or tomorrow.”

Richard took a lungful of smoke and blew it out. While he watched the cloud dismantling he said: “I wish Flake Lorenz was never born. Without him, Lorenz Corporations wouldn’t even exist. Who knows, maybe we could have lived in peace without his obsession to ‘take the next step’. All of this is his fault. If I could go back, I’d strangle that lanky man to death.”

Paul shook his head and sat down by the windowsill as well. “Don’t blame the man, he couldn’t predict what was going to happen. Besides, he suffered the most horrible death possible: got killed by the machine he invented himself. And who knows, if Lorenz would have never been born, maybe someone would have taken his place anyway.”

Lowering his head, and dumbing his cigarette to a beer can Richard muttered: “I know, but still. I’m tired of being constantly afraid of everything.” _Constantly being afraid of losing you._

Paul leaned closer and tilted Richard’s head from his chin to look at him in the eyes. “Where there’s darkness there’s always light as well. And that light in this shithole is right before me. When I look at you I know I have everything I need. Screw the war, screw Lorenz Corporations, screw politics: I have one thing that keeps me going in this madness.”

Richard snorted while he also enjoyed the feeling of Paul’s touch that had moved to his cheek. “Yeah, hiding in the shadows. Fucking great. I wished at least in this madhouse I could show to the public I love someone.”

“But without all of this shit, we would have never probably even met. We still have a chance to change things. Don’t give up.”

Submitting to the touch, Richard sighed and closed his eyes. “How can you always be so positive, mein Paulchen?”

“It’s easy. Because of you,” Paul said and slowly dragged the other man from the nape of his neck, asking for a kiss he received without the slightest hesitation.

When they withdrew Richard leaned against the wall. “One day, if it would be possible, I’ll marry you.” The words felt so natural even though Richard’s cheeks were burning a bit. ”I need to have something to wait for. Otherwise, I’ll go crazy.”

Paul smiled - the smile that managed to illuminate the worst ratholes ever even. “When that day comes, I assure you there’s only one possible answer.”

~***~

A loud siren and explosion woke them up from an already restless sleep. Richard and Paul immediately stood up and started putting their combat gear. This had happened so many times before that it was routine - in fact, they had been surprised they had gotten even two days without any alarms or fighting.

“Do you have everything? Is your rifle loaded?” Paul asked and Richard nodded while he was tying up his boots. Another explosion: the house was shaking a bit. As they didn’t possess much, everything besides their combat gear and guns was left in the building - they wouldn’t come back anyway as most likely their hide was once again found.

When they were about to step outside, not knowing what was going to happen, they looked at each other by the front door. 

Richard put his hand on Paul’s shoulder and said: “Be careful love. Promise me to stay safe there, whatever we might encounter.”

They shared a quick kiss before they put their helmets on and started walking towards the torment.

Paul tried to inhibit the annoying lump forming in his throat, making his eyes glossy. He had been in war several times but that didn’t change the fact that every single time he was afraid: he was scared to death. Not because of himself, but for Richard, for his _everything_.

What if this was the last moment Paul would see him? After all, this was war - war against something much more powerful than they were. Still, they had hope. They _had to_ fight. For their own species, for their loved ones.

Just that war meant there were going to be casualties - and that surely troubled general Landers even though he tried to be brave for the sake of his group. The leader wasn’t allowed to break - and not allowed to fall in love, either.

As Paul had frozen to his place, Richard glanced behind his shoulder and noticed the general wasn’t following him. “Everything ok, sir?”

Snapped out of his confusion, Paul blinked and forced a tiny smile on his face Richard couldn’t see through the helmet though. “Jesus, how many times I have said you don’t have to call me _sir_.”

“What if I like to call you with that name, _sir_?” Richard teased, lightening the fact they were about to fight cyborgs once again.

Their bantering mood was shattered though when they heard a loud thud that shook the ground which was followed by a scream: was it humans, animals, or both? It was difficult to tell.

Both of the men looked at each other meaningfully and then they started to run as fast as they could towards the unknown.

~***~

The fluorescent lighting illuminated the grey lab as Paul paced around the small space that smelled like disinfectant and dust. He was clenching his hands into wrists so hard it hurt. If it had been bad before, now the shit had hit the fan properly.

Johanna, a former doctor, now the group’s lead scientist, put a transparent liquid into a syringe and then pushed it into a man who was lying unconsciously on a metal bed - a poor victim who had been shot in the head by the enemies and was now fighting for his life. Though both Johanna and Paul knew that irreversible brain damage had occurred - it was a miracle the man was still alive even.

When Johanna first waited for a while and saw that nothing happened, she cursed in silence and muttered: “Of course, the new T1-LL20 model was too quick for him. We weren’t prepared.” It had been a rough day for her as well: too many injured, too little people to take care of them. Even some kids who barely knew how to tie a wound had been commanded to help the medical staff. They were soon running out of people - too many losses.

Today, when Paul had just heard a scream and then seen the limb body just in front of his eyes, the general had learned bitterly why it was so dangerous to attach to anybody. That had been something no one would ever want to see - especially if the wounded one was your _everything_.

Johanna sighed and ran a hand through her exhausted face. “I don’t understand. He is kinda here, but already like…”

“Well, try something different!” Paul burst out. More than anything he would have wanted to throw something against a wall in that lousy basement. “You are a scientist, you know how to make a fucking medicine or something!”

Johanna turned to look at their leader, usually positive and calm, but who was now losing his cool. Constant fighting and fear of losing someone were getting into everyone’s nerves. “Sir, you know very well I don’t just happen to have a supply of all the medicine we’d need. Besides, getting to know what is really going on in his body would take for hours, even days, but I’m afraid that…”

“Don’t say that…” Paul muttered, fighting back the pressure on his eyes. “Don’t you dare to say that! There must be something, try fucking harder!”

Johanna stood up but kept a good distance to Paul who was trembling. Dark circles around his eyes revealed how rough it had been for him recently. “With all respect sir, we have lost lots of good soldiers recently so… can I ask what is so special about... Kruspe?”

“He is the best soldier. I can’t lose him, that’s all.” Of course, Paul knew there was _something_ more, but he couldn’t reveal anything to the woman.

Johanna moved her eyes to the ground. “Correct me if I’m wrong sir, but I just have a feeling…”

“Have a feeling of what?” Paul asked with an unnecessarily mean tone he immediately regretted. Johanna was a hardworking woman and without her, they wouldn’t have even survived this far. He couldn’t afford to lose her with Richard. Not now. ”I… I didn’t mean it, sorry…”

“That there… is something you… you haven’t told me,” Johanna blurted out and cleared her throat. “I’m just… just worried for you, sir. You keep taking care of us, you barely sleep or eat.”

“You have no reason to be bothered about me,” Paul said and looked at Richard whose chest was barely moving. He was still breathing, but how long - no one knew. “All I want you to do is save him,” Paul added with a voice barely audible.

“Landers, I’m a scientist, not a magician,” Johanna said with a weary voice, unable to maintain her professional cool as well. “I can’t reverse death.”

“DON’T SAY THAT FUCKING WORD!” Paul shouted and as he couldn’t hide it anymore, burst into a desperate cry. “Fucking shit…”

Johanna decided it was maybe time for her to step back and leave Paul to say goodbye to his best soldier. “I… I go to check what I can do.”

When the woman was gone, Paul kneeled next to the bed on the hard concrete floor, and squeezed Richard’s hand - it was so unusually cold compared to those heated touches they’d had together several times.

“Don’t you dare to leave me,” Paul sobbed and buried his head to Richard’s chest. “Don’t you fucking dare. What am I going to do without you? There’s nothing left. Nothing left if you leave me. No hope. No future. Only darkness.”

He raised his head and wiped his eyes before he continued his speech he thought no one was hearing: “In my dreams, I hoped this shit would be over at some point. We could live our dream. Retreat, live a normal, peaceful life together. Be happy.” A sniffle, and he carried on even when his voice was almost breaking: “I’d want to live in a world where falling in love isn’t considered as a burden. Because no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t resist falling in love with you, Richard. And look at us now: I know now why it is so difficult. I understand it perfectly well now when I’m losing something dear to me. I can only blame myself. But no matter what, nothing will change the fact that…” 

Biting his lower lip hard, he still tried to inhibit the words that burst out eventually: “I love you. And I would have said yes to the promise you made for me.”

A plea that reverberated in the room, accompanied by Paul’s desperate sobs.

Paul sniffled and stood up, still squeezing the limp hand of his lover. ”That is all that matters now. Please, my love, fight ‘til the very last end.”

Johanna, who had come back quicker than assumed, was standing by the door. She had wondered if had someone come to the lab to talk with Paul but then she had realized who he was talking to - and her assumptions had been right. There was deeper affection between the two men than just merely a professional one.

Panting heavily, Johanna leaned against a wall, her legs almost failing her. She was afraid to show herself while on the other hand, it hurt her to hear their leader like this: their leader who had always been positive, had always encouraged them all when they were down. 

She had to do something. There _had_ to be something.

And that something came to her mind: something that might be too dangerous - but their everyday lives where nowadays dangerous, so it wouldn’t even make any difference.

There was still one last chance.

“E-entschuldigung, sir,” Johanna said when she came back to the room, pretending she hadn’t heard anything. 

Paul turned around and startled, trying to hide his swollen, glossy eyes.

“While I was there… I… well, something came up to my mind. We could have a chance still.”

The magic word _chance_ woke Paul up from his trance and without caring about anything else anymore, he almost jumped in front of Johanna and grabbed her shoulders. “What is it? Tell me!”

Johanna didn’t dare to look at the general’s eyes full of pain when she said: “We’d have a chance to save him if we’d… if we’d change the destroyed organic parts of him into biomechatronic ones.”

Paul rolled his eyes. “C’mon, enough science babble already. What do you mean?”

“Just that if we’d figure out a way to change him into a cyborg he might… he might have a chance.” She looked thoughtful when she added: “I’ve performed the operation only once, but I specialized in biomechatronics in med school, so with some aid I think I could… could manage. Just that… we don’t have much time anymore.”

Paul backed up - a smile was forming on his face. “What are we waiting for anymore? If there’s a chance to save him, let’s do it! I’ll give you anything you need.”

Before Paul was running away from her, Johanna added: “I’m just afraid that... most of his memories would be lost. There was quite a lot of brain damage already.” Lowering her voice, she added: ”And there is no guarantee it will be a success. There are so many things that could go wrong.”

Paul stopped by his place and turned around. “So, he wouldn’t be… himself anymore?” Of course, it had been too good to be true.

Johanna shrugged. “Who could possibly know. But cyborgs can learn. Maybe you could teach him to be himself again. I just wanted you to know that there are risks. But I’m willing to help. For both of your sakes.”

“Thank you, Johanna,” Paul said and nodded. “I always knew I could trust you.” He watched Richard who looked almost more pallid than before on the bed. “If we have a chance to save him, we must try it. We must do _everything_ we can.”


	2. A Messenger from the past

~***~

2000, Berlin

~***~

An interview was coming out from the buzzing tv screen of a ’50s style cafe. After a busy day, only three men were left.

_“We are honored to have in the studio today Flake Lorenz from the fresh new company ‘Lorenz Corporations’. He has dedicated all his life to a better future for us all: to create the world’s first fully functioning artificial intelligence._

_Tell us Florenz, how will we benefit as humankind with this artificial intelligence you are working with?”_

_“Well,” the lanky, nerdy man started when he adjusted his glasses that didn’t fit on his face at all, “I believe if I succeed we will be freed from all the physical labor. All the dull jobs can be given for machines and we humans can concentrate on what we are the best at: using our unique brains while the everyday tasks are done for us by the technology.” All the time when he was speaking, he didn’t make any eye contact with the interviewer - instead, his eyes were fixed on the table between them._

_“But are there any risks?” the woman interviewer asked. “By now, our knowledge of artificial intelligence is shallow, so who could possibly know if these machines would start malfunctioning. And what if they become too clever, turn against their masters?”_

_Lorenz let out a burst of laughter. “Those kinds of scenarios should be left in science fiction novels. I have spent almost all my life studying and researching this subject and I can assure it will be completely safe. Or wouldn’t you be a tiny bit interested in seeing where this will lead us? This next step?”_

_“I didn’t say I wasn’t interested, just that there could be possible risks.”_

“Do you think he’ll make it?” asked a man who was sipping a glass of Pepsi. His name was Christoph Schneider - the owner of the Café ‘50s. He was a happily married man who was also keen on playing drums but whatever reason never made it into bigger stages - expect for playing Iron Maiden covers occasionally in pubs during weekends.

Paul Landers, the regular employee who was wiping the floors at the end of his shift, glanced at the tv and shrugged. This Florenz guy had been everywhere on the media recently, but truth to be told, at his 30’s Paul had more important things to think about than a nerdy engineer - like work to get money for his rent and also, desperately trying to change the fact he was still a freaking single.

A thoughtful bearded man named Oliver Riedel, who was Paul’s colleague and good friend, said: “The interviewer has a point though. In all of this hype around Lorenz and his work we should consider the risks before anything irreversible happens.” He was usually quiet but when he spoke only something meaningful came out. “I mean, we have no idea if the technology would end up turning against us instead of that so much mentioned co-operating. What will stop the artificial intelligence if it turns out to be much more clever than us? What if we end up as slaves ourselves? Do we have any back-up plan in that case?”

Schneider finished his soft drink and stood up, patting Oliver on his shoulder. “Don’t be so concerned. Think about the positive side: maybe in the future, robots will manage this place so we can just go on a surfing holiday while our salaries are still rolling!”

Oliver didn’t say anything. Instead, he just kept watching the tv while Paul still wiped the floors.

“Landers, take the rest of the day off,” Schneider said while he looked at his employee. “You have better things to do than wipe my dirty floor and ramble about some nerdy guy. Go on, live your life.” 

Paul stopped and widened his eyes as he looked at his boss. Schneider was a laid-back man, but never before Paul had had permission to leave work this many hours earlier before his shift should have ended. “But I’m not ready yet and what if customers start coming through doors and windows?”

“Relax, it’s a quiet night. We can survive with Ollie perfectly fine, right?” Schneider tried to ask the man who was mesmerized by the tv. 

Lorenz was still speaking: at the end of the interview, he finally turned to look at the camera and stated without even blinking an eye: _“The future will be here sooner than any of us could even imagine. It means we will take the next step as humanity - it requires boldness but also responsibility. We won’t be confined in biology anymore. What could we even be when we are allowed to turn into the best versions of ourselves?_

_Will_ **_you_ ** _be ready for it? For the future?”_

Schneider took the remote and turned the tv off finally. “Enough of that bullshit. Ollie, let’s finish the cleaning so Paul can go home.”

“But--” Paul still tried.

“Relax, we’ll handle this,” Schneider said with a wink. “It’s about time for you to get someone by your side and it’s not really helping if you are stuck here with us. Maybe you’ll end up gay.”

Paul put the mop aside and blushed a bit. Firstly, because of the fact that his boss knew way too much about his love life - and the failures in it - and secondly, the fact that Paul was already probably gay. He had met a couple of nice guys, but unfortunately, with no progress.

Gathering his stuff from his locker Paul ran to the door. Just when he was about to leave, a single customer came in. They almost bumped into each other.

“Tschüss!” Paul exclaimed while trying to act as nothing had happened even though the customer was cursing in silence and leering at him. Paul saw Ollie and Schneider waving to him before he was in the street.

Autumn was soon turning into winter - it meant chillier and chillier evenings. Paul sighed: especially during this season his loneliness took him into its tight grip. Man, how much he wished he had someone nice by his side: someone with whom he could curl up into a warm blanket with a steaming mug of cocoa. Those kinds of simple things he wanted: not money, fame, or success. Just to get the feeling _someone_ cared about him.

But as Paul was sure it wasn’t going to happen tonight, he headed to the metro station and to home for another lonely night.

_Maybe someday. Maybe someday I’ll have you by my side._

_But not tonight._

Just after Paul had stepped in the metro, in an alleyway next to Schneider’s cafe there was a flash of blue lightning, like a sudden thunderbolt. A bunch of teenagers who were hanging in the street startled to death - but as curiosity won them over they didn’t flee.

“Wh-what is that?” one of the boys stammered while he approached the vague dark ball of something. “Thunder? But how, it’s not stormy...”

When they stepped closer they saw a huge bundle that started to form a figure: a figure of a huge, naked man.

The kids didn’t dare to say a word, they had just frozen to their places, looking at the man’s cold blue eyes. He looked somehow inhumane.

“What year is this?” the man’s monotonous voice asked.

“2… 2000”

A smile - not a genuine one though that would reach his eyes - formed on the man’s face. “Perfect.”

After that he stood up, revealing finally how enormous he actually was. The kids ran away screaming.

The man just shrugged. “Humans.” 

He started proceeding - he had one task to do. With confident steps - and without even bothering to hide the fact he was naked on a busy street in the capital of Germany - he saw a buzzing, bright sign in front of him:

_Cafe ‘50s_

He had reached his destination and opened the door. Inside it was quiet and the man kept scanning. Only one customer was sitting on a table, drinking coffee he spat out immediately when he saw the naked man. He couldn’t go out so he just froze to his place.

“Umm, Schneider,” Oliver on the counter called for his boss who was in his office. 

“What is it? I’m kinda busy right now.”

“You should… probably check this out,” Oliver managed to say before the huge man approached him.

Only inches away, the big asked with a monotonic, almost robotic voice: “Where is Landers?” At the same time, Schneider came from his office with a bunch of papers he immediately dropped when he saw what was going on.

“How do… how do you know him?” Schneider asked when Ollie couldn’t say anything. ”What do you w-want from him?”

The man turned to look at Schneider. “No further questions, human. I need Landers. Now.”

~***~

Paul ran a hand through his short moist hair after shower. He sat down on his sofa and almost sunk into the soft material - he was that tired. He didn’t even know why, but maybe he had just been working too much. His boss was right - he maybe should do something else than work his ass off at the Cafe ‘50s.

He opened the tv and started flipping channels. On the first channel, there was Lorenz again. Paul snorted - how much an attention whore the nerd really was? The other channel was some cheesy comedy. It was dull enough for this weary evening mindset so Paul didn’t change it.

There was a scene where an alien came out of a metal box that was steaming. It wasn’t anyhow funny except for the fact that the so-called extraterrestrial creature was wearing a light green jumpsuit that looked ridiculous - like from an aerobic video from the past. _If you are making a series about the future, then make it properly and not like the characters look like they are from the ‘80s,_ Paul thought and shook his head.

_I am sent back from the future,_ the ”alien” in the comedy spoke with a monotonous voice. _I’m here to steal your daughter as my wife to the planet Vulcan._

_Rebecca, maybe you should ask your dad first when you bring your new boyfriends here!_ A woman shouted. It was followed by way too eager pre-recorded laughter.

But Paul wasn’t laughing - the comedy made him uneasy even though it was meant to be lighthearted.

Year by year, these lonely nights started to feel heavier and heavier even though Paul didn’t want to admit it. Where was his life leading him? Living alone, working in a tiny cafe for the rest of his life while the other people were going forward? Shivers ran through Paul’s spine when he saw an image in his mind: of him old and grumpy, still on this sofa, watching the same dull comedies. _Shit._ He had to do something. But what? Staying in bars didn’t feel comfortable but where else could he meet anybody? Should he start flirting with the customers in the cafe? _No fucking way._ That low Paul wasn’t going to go, he promised himself.

His train of thought was interrupted when he heard a thud coming from the stairway - maybe the neighbor’s drunkard was going out.

But when his doorbell rang Paul got suspicious - he wasn’t expecting anyone. Who the hell could it be? Schneider? Ollie? They were the only options. Maybe they still wanted him to come back to work.

Only in his nightgown, Paul stepped to the door and opened it. “H-hallo?”

Paul barely saw a huge figure with a leather jacket before he realized the man was aiming a gun at him. Just before the bullet was in the air, Paul managed to hide behind the sofa. “WHAT THE HELL?!” he shouted and tried to lock himself in a panic to the bathroom but he stumbled on his feet on the way. 

_So this is how I go. Fucking great_ , were his last thoughts before…

Someone else was in his apartment as well. Someone with combat gear and a gun. He fired at the intruder who stopped for a second when he was hit.

“Are you okay?” the new man asked. For a brief while, Paul studied the man who had black spiky hair and the most beautiful blue eyes he’d ever seen. 

Paul had to squint. “Do I… do I know you somewhere?” Somehow, the man felt familiar even though Paul couldn’t put his finger on who he was.

“You could say so,” the man said mysteriously and took Paul’s hand. “Are you hurt?”

“N-no, I’m fine,” Paul stammered. “W-who are you?”

“I’ll explain later. Follow me, if you want to live,” the man with black hair said and grabbed Paul’s arm before the huge man by the door came back to his senses and started targeting them both.

“Jesus!” Paul shouted while he was dragged to the balcony. It was almost like these two men were fighting because of… him?

That was impossible.

The man who had apparently saved him panted heavily. “Go down. Quick!”

Paul glanced behind his shoulder. “But it’s the fucking fifth floor!”

“There’s a rope, grab it! There’s no time, go!”

With one kick, the huge man shattered the glass door of the balcony. 

The spiky-haired man aimed his rifle and shouted: “GO!”

Paul didn’t have to be commanded twice: he heard a loud thud and shooting again that made him to grab the rope as fast as he could. 

He wasn’t on the ground even a minute before the man with the spiky hair was back. He pointed at a black Mercedes Benz. “In the car.”

“Hey, I’m not stealing anyone’s fucking c-”

“NOW!”

Paul jumped into the car before the huge man was also on the ground. Just in time, they managed to escape.

Paul looked behind his shoulder and on the road. The guy was driving like a maniac, getting a good amount of honking.

“JESUS, SLOW DOWN! FOR CHRIST’S SAKE ARE YOU GONNA KILL US?!”

“Sir, this is only for your own good,” the incognito guy answered with a tone they’d known each other for ages.

“S-sir…? What kind of a sick joke is this?”

“No time to explain. He is still following us.”

“Who the fuck is ‘him’? And why was he invading my home? I’m not in criminal business, he must have mistaken me for someone else.”

“Technically, he’s not a man. He’s a killing machine called T1-LL20 from the year 2020.” The man turned to look at Paul. “And he is programmed to find and kill you.”

Paul’s eyes widened and his jaw almost hit the floor of the car. “Y-you said WHAT? Why the hell would someone want to kill me?” He put his hands on his face and moaned. “Please, tell me this is just a prank or something.”

They drove in silence for a while - seemed like T1-LL20 had finally lost them. They reached eventually the outskirts of Berlin, stopping the car at an abandoned house.

“We will be staying here. It’s not safe in the city anymore for you. It’s only a matter of time T1-LL20 will find us so we have to be constantly on the move.”

“What the hell, I’m still in my fucking nightgown!” Paul complained. “I need to call the insurance company, he wrecked my apartment! Also, just to remind you some people have to work. I have a morning shift tomorrow!”

The spiky-haired man threw Paul a leather jacket. “We’ll get some clothes for you tomorrow but you can wear this. I’m afraid there is not your workplace anymore though,” he said. “I should have been quicker, but T1-LL20 found you before me. Luckily, I found your house just at the right time. Otherwise, all would have been lost.”

“W-what?” Paul asked while the leather jacket was still in his hand like he didn’t know what to do with it.

Without any other explanations, they went inside and Paul sat on the first stool full of dust he found. “I must have hit my head… I don’t understand anything… It’s like a nightmare.” He turned around and looked at the spiky-haired man who was taking his armor off. Underneath he was wearing a black overall. “Who the hell are you anyway?”

The man looked Paul straight in the eyes and stated: “My name is Richard Z.Kruspe. I’m a cyborg from 2020. Happy to be back on your service, sir.”

Paul rolled his eyes and snorted. “Oh great, 2020 again. That explains a lot. And what kind of a name is ‘Z.Kruspe’ anyway? And can you stop calling me a ‘sir’, it’s not funny anymore!”

“You are my superior. We share a special bond as I’m your best soldier.”

“Excuse me?”

Richard dug out a device from his pocket. Before the horrified Paul could ask any further, a video message started to play:

_“Greetings, Paul Landers, or actually, well... me._

_You may wonder what on earth is going on, so I shall explain. I am you from the year 2020. Yes, that’s correct.”_

“M-me? That old man?” the ‘00s Paul asked. “Oh man, this is only getting worse…”

“Shh, listen,” Richard said.

_“You may be familiar with a man called Flake Lorenz. Where I am now, something he invented will do terrible things. Well, technically, the man will succeed in inventing artificial intelligence that goes out of control and almost wipes out of humankind. Very few survive - and because of your help._

_And please, don’t freak out when I say that you will be leading a resistance group called ‘The Faith Rising’ in the future.”_

Paul shook his head and looked at Richard who nodded. Then, he turned back to the screen, his mouth wide open.

_“The man who has come to your help is called Richard Z. Kruspe - he will be your best soldier and also…”_ The future Paul cleared his throat and continued: _“All I can say is that you can trust him. You and him, you are... will be… very close._

_But yeah, as humans and machines are in a constant war, Richard, unfortunately, got almost fatally injured during a fight. But he got another chance as a half-human, half machine. He will protect you from T1-LL20 who will do anything to get to you and terminate you._

_What I will ask from you is that with Richard’s help find Lorenz, tell him what is going to happen in the future if he continues with his work and try your best to turn his head. Just one thing:_ **_don’t kill him._ ** _Prevent him from inventing that artificial intelligence, but don’t kill him or harm him any other way._

_That is all I can tell you now. Take care you both._

_And Richard…”_ The older Paul’s voice got oddly wistful at this point. ” _I… hope you’d have a chance to come back home safely._

_After all, there’s a promise you made me. A promise we need to make true someday.”_

Before Richard could say anything, with a loud thud Paul fell from the stool - Richard managed to catch him just right in time. 

”Sir? Paul?” Richard asked when he realized the other man was unconscious in his strong arms.


	3. Born again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, my perfectionist brain almost failed me with this chapter, I struggled a lot - but luckily, it's finally done! A new character will be introduced in this chapter, set in the year 2020.
> 
> Enjoy!

~***~

2020

~***~

Once when he was small Paul’s dear grandmother fell seriously ill and was hospitalized for months, only getting worse by the time. Clear as a day, Paul still remembered how it was to wait for the results during her last operation: pacing around in the hollow corridors of the hospital, dozing on and off on uncomfortable benches, and being constantly in a stressful uncertainty when his loved one was in the hands of someone else.

Now years later when general Landers was sitting in their lab, restlessly waiting, he felt exactly the same: a little miserable boy who ended up hearing his grandmother's operation had failed.

The clock on the wall ticked ominously - the small noise that normally wasn’t even notable was now reverberating in Paul’s ears. Hours passed but nothing happened: no news, no people, nothing. Only this emptiness, fear of the unknown. In his fatigue, Paul didn’t have the slightest clue how long he had been sitting here - the clock just told it was almost midnight. A glance out of the window didn’t still reveal anything of the time of the day though - it looked the same all the time: grey, dull, and depressing. The knot in the bottom of Paul’s belly tightened and tightened.

What if this was destined to fail? What if he had too high hopes for his dear Richard having a second chance? 

And in case the worst happened how could Paul ever live with the fact he had sent his lover to his _death_?

Paul swallowed and wiped his sweaty, dirty hands to his pants. In his mind he tried to soothe himself. _Everything will be alright. It’s not in your hands now. Just trust them. They know what they are doing._ As Johanna had said Paul knew he needed sleep and food - and a long hot shower wouldn’t have been bad either - but he refused to take care of himself now when the life of the man who mattered the most was threatened.

With a creak a door opened behind his back and Paul startled: it was Jens Koch, in his former life an aspiring photographer who nowadays was a competent lab assistant for Johanna. They were good friends with Paul, supporting each other during these difficult times.

“Any news?” Paul tried to ask with a quiet voice, but the other man, usually talkative and cheerful, didn’t even meet his eyes. He just rushed to a storage and went to the operating room, with a huge metal box in his hands.

Paul slumped to the same chair he had been sitting in the passing hours. _Sigh._ Maybe it could have been easier to hear the fact Richard was dead than live in this nerve-wracking uncertainty. In his desperation, he tried to comprehend how Jens had looked. Sad? Tired? Hopeless? All of them, maybe. The man had been indecipherable.

All Paul had left were his dreams: at least there, they could still be together with Richard.

_One day, if it would be possible, I’ll marry you._ Those words were something to live for: though they felt so unrealistic and distant. Was it ridiculous trying to hold on to something impossible?

How cruel life was: in his younger days, Paul had desperately hoped for a better future; a future with something meaningful to do for this society with someone by his side. Once he had gotten them, tasted that sweet feeling, he had been snapped out of his bliss. Like someone would have just smacked him in the face and said: _“This is your life and it’s not getting any better than this. What the hell were you even expecting? Fluff and roses? Dream on, Landers!”_

A familiar burning feeling came back to Paul’s eyes: still, he was so tired he couldn’t even cry anymore. Both physically and mentally it hurt so much he was already numb to the pain. 

His trademark, hope, was little by little dwindling. How could he even be a leader for his group if he was broken completely? He was just a shadow of what he had been.

Maybe his and Richard’s relationship had been too good to be true - maybe it would have worked in another universe, in another lifetime.

Pity that he was born in the wrong one - in this twisted universe where everything beautiful was stomped on, violently taken away from you.

Maybe this was his punishment for everything.

~***~

“Landers? Sir?” a gentle voice of a man asked and squeezed the general’s shoulder. 

Shifting on the uncomfortable chair, Paul replied by grunting: “Mmh?” He barely opened his eyes and saw Jens in front of him - this time, he at least met his eyes. The man even flashed a forced crooked smile Paul could see through his blurred vision.

Painstakingly, Paul raised his other arm, only to notice it was numb. “What… what time is it?”

“It’s 10 am, sir.”

_Shit_. Paul couldn’t believe what he had heard so he looked at the clock that revealed the truth. “I… fucking slept for... 10 hours or so?” Forcing himself to move properly now, Paul grimaced - his stiff back revealed he wasn’t in his 20s anymore.

Jens took a step back and took his hand away from Paul when the general had finally woken up properly. “Johanna wanted to see you.” He moved his gaze to the ground when he added: “It’s… it’s about… Richard.”

With that one magic word the last residuals of sleep were gone. Ignoring his numb limbs and hurting back, Paul jumped up from the chair with the new gained enthusiasm. Excitement was bubbling inside him _. Could this mean…?_ “Oh, did she… tell anything further? How did it go? Is… Richard alive? Can I see him?”

Jens ran a hand through his short hair: dark circles under his eyes revealed it had been a long night for him as well. “I guess Johanna will tell you the details.” 

Paul didn’t dare to ask anything further so he just meekly followed Jens to the operating room.

When they stepped in through metal doors, Paul’s gaze locked into the sight in the middle of all the beeping gadgets. That man he could recognize from a thousand miles away. “R-Richard?”

Paul gasped and rushed right next to him. Without noticing anything around he took Richard’s hand - and felt a pulse. “Dear… dear Christ,” Paul mumbled, not believing his eyes. Emotions started rushing to him even though normally the general was careful to keep everything inside - especially when he was in a room full of people. “I… I... missed you,” Paul said and sniffled. He brushed his finger on Richard’s forehead, desperately fighting back the urge to kiss him. 

“We did everything we could,” a weary female voice next to a bunch of computers said, “but we still don’t know what the outcome will be. At least the vital organs for keeping him alive are now stable. We need to keep monitoring him though. No one knows what will happen next and when he will wake up. It’s in the hands of destiny now.”

Paul turned to look at their best scientist and whispered: “Thank you.” He then checked more thoroughly the woman and saw she was leaning her head to her hand, barely managing to keep her eyes open. Then Paul realized that right, Johanna had stayed up the whole night trying to resurrect almost a dead man. 

“You and your team, go to sleep,” Paul commanded. “You’ve done a terrific job and you deserve a break. Take the rest of the day off.”

Johanna straightened her back and blinked her eyes rapidly. “B-but he still needs constant supervising, we have no idea when he will wake up,” the woman stammered. “Besides--”

Raising a hand Paul said: “Your general’s commands. I’ll check on Richard and if anything happens, I’ll let you know.”

Too tired to start protesting, Johanna nodded and stood up swaying a bit when she rubbed her temples. “Paul, there’s just something I needed to tell you… his memory...” she started, but Paul just cut her off immediately.

“Johanna, we’ll talk later, ok?” Paul ignored the words. He knew how tired Johanna was when she was calling him with his first name. “All that matters is that Richard is alive and you’d get a rest.”

Before the exhausted scientist would collapse Jens quickly wrapped his arm around Johanna and escorted her away along with the whole team. Relief was in the air even though no one said anything.

Jens looked at Paul the one last time before they left. “No one knows what will happen next. Are you sure you don’t want me to stay with you?”

Shaking his head Paul flashed a tiny smile. “I will be fine like this. Thank you, Jens.”

The other man nodded. “You know we will be right next door. Don’t hesitate to ask if anything happens.”

Jens turned and was soon away leaving Paul alone in the room. The only sounds were monitors beeping and the faint humming of several computers. Paul took a chair by a table and held Richard’s eerily cold hand. Drawing circles on it he watched his lover with gentle eyes and exhaled. Richard looked as beautiful as always. Maybe a bit pale still, but there was no doubt: Paul didn’t know how it was possible, but Richard, _his_ Richard, was _alive._ Even though Johanna had claimed otherwise, maybe she was a magician after all. 

Paul would ask what had happened and what they had done to him, but now it was not the time: he just wanted to stay in this moment, to realize Richard was back with him.

“So, this is what became of us, my love,” Paul whispered, not sure whether the other man was able to hear him or not. “But I always knew you were a fighter. You came back to me. And I promise I won’t abandon you, no matter what.

This is our second chance and I’m _not_ willing to lose you another time.”

In the euphoric, naïve moment of relief and happiness, without noticing it, Paul allowed himself to lull into a dreamy state - he had everything he needed now.

~***~

Every day looked so similar it was close to impossible to comprehend how many had passed. What Paul knew though was that Richard was still alive and lying on the same operating table. As much as Paul tried to spend time with him, keeping the hope alive, he couldn’t stay 24/7 with his lover. In the constant warzone, the machines started several smaller fights. Those kept the general busy. 

Almost living in her lab nowadays, Johanna was typing furiously on her computer and sighed. No one was jealous of her position: the word that one of their soldiers had been successfully saved had spread so people were asking constantly what was going to happen - only to get the same answer “I have no idea” every single time. Not everyone concerned the new member of the group with innocent curiosity though: there were rumors about a dangerous half-machine being now amongst them, ready to explode in any minute.

And the fact even their best scientist didn’t have the slightest clue what she had done made the people agitated.

“I don’t get it,” Johanna spoke, more to herself than to Jens who was sitting next to her, tapping his feet. Paul was away, helping in the recent battlefield with the wounded. “We have done all the tests, he is completely healthy. Nothing should inhibit him from waking up.”

“Does he know what is happening around him?” Jens asked and rubbed his chin, his eyes fixed on the computer screen. “Maybe he just doesn’t want to wake up on purpose or something.”

“I have no idea. We have done everything we could. I didn’t expect it to take six days. We still have no progress.”

“Johanna,” Jens said way too officially with a sigh, “has it occurred to you that… what if it would be better if he... if he wouldn’t even wake up?” He shifted in his chair and added: “Maybe we are just hoping for a miracle that will never happen.”

Johanna turned around and looked at Jens with wide eyes. “What do you mean? According to my tests and calculations there’s nothing wrong physically in him. We have to be patient. I have never done a huge operation like this myself before, so I can’t say how long it might take for the patient to wake up. Maybe this is completely normal, maybe...”

“Who knows how he will be _if_ he wakes up,” Jens stated and looked at Richard who was steadily breathing on the metal table still. “You said yourself he most likely wouldn’t recognize any of us. After all, the most damaged areas of the brain were around his limbic system. He is like a formatted powerful computer that could snap out at any minute.” With a voice barely audible he added: “I don’t know about you, but it keeps me awake at night.”

“It’s no use to speculate now,” Johanna said and looked at the still unconscious patient as well. He looked so calm there - like he was just taking a never-ending nap. “We will see and then we are doing everything we can to teach him and guide him so he could remember who he was in his former life. General was more than willing to help us. They were very close before the accident, so I’m sure there might be at least some kind of small emotional part Paul would be able to trigger. I don’t know, but we can’t lose our hope now.”

With a serious expression, Jens moved his gaze and looked at Johanna straight in the eyes. “Has it come to your mind that what if… what if… he would be… dangerous to us?”

Johanna narrowed her eyes. “Excuse me?”

Averting his gaze, Jens swallowed and explained:“He is now technically a machine after all, right? So, how can we know if he lashes out, destroys everything, and goes to a rampage? You speculated he would be physically more powerful than any of us with the mechatronic parts he now has inside him. That combined with his unpredictable behavior...”

Standing up, Johanna ran a hand through her long greasy hair with a ponytail. During these busy days there hadn’t been much time for selfcare. “Well… I’d lie if I’d say I haven’t thought about it, but in my heart I know it won’t happen. If I would have been too concerned I wouldn’t have ever even started the operation.” She looked at Richard and stated: “He is still one of us.”

“So, you _knew_ there could be possible risks, but you still were willing to take them?” Jens asked, not able to keep his cool anymore. “You put us all in danger because of what? Because the general just happened to _want_ his favorite soldier back, huh?” He let out an exasperated sigh and continued his babbling: “Holy hell Johanna, we have lost dozens of good men and women, what makes this Kruspe so special? Why did you decide to give _him_ another chance? What about the others we had to bury in the war zones, huh?”

Johanna raised her hand: in these desperate times everyone was constantly on the edge. The last thing she needed now was her assistant turning his back to her. “Jens, maybe now it’s not the time.”

“I just have a feeling you haven’t told me everything and boy, it surely troubles me,” Jens said and moved his piercing eyes to Johanna. His voice was getting louder when he added: “There must be something you are hiding from me. I have always appreciated you, but now I hate to admit that I’m losing my trust.”

“I’m not willing to continue this discussion,” Johanna stated and turned her back to her assistant.

Jens opened his mouth, but just then the doors opened. Johanna glanced at her assistant murderously and then forced a tiny smile on her face when she looked at the newcomer. “Good afternoon, sir. How are you?”

Paul mumbled something vague back and took the same chair as always next to his lover. “Do we have anything new today?” The general wore dusty clothes - after the day’s duties, fights, and helping his people, he always came straight to the lab not caring at all how sleazy he must have looked. 

Jens leaned back in his chair and didn’t meet Paul’s eyes. “It’s just the same as everyday.” He bit his lower lip and pondered for a second before he added: “Maybe we should just admit that…”

“We should admit _what_?” Paul asked when he moved his eyes from Richard. It had been a difficult day for him, so he took the assistant’s cold tone personally.

Shaking her head, Johanna turned to her computer and sat down, pretending she was busy with typing. If Jens was carrying on that mood the rest of the day, she didn’t want to participate.

“What if we just continue and admit he might... not wake up anymore,” Jens said and looked at his hands he clenched into fists. “Maybe it would be better for all of us to stop this and just continue dealing with what we still have.”

Just blinking his eyes Paul said back: “Don’t you dare to say things like that. We’ll do everything we can. Like always, we fight ‘til the very last end. We _must_ stick together.”

Jens exhaled and rubbed his forehead. “We have already done everything and there’s still no sign of waking up.”

“We just have to wait!” Paul exclaimed and stood up. “It’s been only six days, we can’t give up now!”

“Why in the hell are we keeping up this false hope still?” Jens shouted back and stood up. He took a step closer to Paul. “Is there something you and Johanna are hiding from me?”

“Jens, just don’t,” Johanna tried to interrupt, her focus on the computer screen still. “Please, don’t start…”

Face to face with Paul, Jens said: “We have lost dozens of innocent, good men and women.” He pointed at the pallid man on the metal table. “What makes _him_ so goddamn special?”

Paul gritted his teeth and clenched his hands into fists. He would have never believed it had come to this - friends turning against each other. “He is my best soldier, we need him. Just trust me, I know what I am doing.”

“And what if your _need_ will cost us our future when that man - or whatever he is now - wakes up and decides he wants to destroy us all? He might possess powers we don’t know anything about yet. What are we going to do then, huh? Just keep the hope up?”

Jens took a step back and shook his head. “With all the respect sir, I’m not with you in this anymore.”

Paul’s eyes narrowed - until today Jens had never treated him or Richard with such disrespect. He was totally out of himself. “What… what on earth has gone to you?”

“Maybe you are the one who should answer that question!” Jens shouted and circled Paul. “We are the ones who need explanations! You have kept your secrets enough already!”

“We all are tired and everything, but maybe we shouldn’t…” Paul still tried to talk sense to this situation he didn’t understand at all.

Stopping at his place, resembling an angry bull who could burst out in any minute, Jens blurted out: “Is it because you have _fucked_ each other behind our backs?” He leered at Paul with a furious expression. “You broke your own rules, attached to him and now you are not willing to admit that you are putting us all into danger because your dear little affair is dying?”

Paul’s eyes widened. “Jens, what the fuck are you talking about? Why—”

Pointing a finger at his general, Jens shouted: “WHY ARE YOU LYING TO US? WHY ARE YOU MAKING US TO GO THROUGH THIS! I DON’T FUCKING CARE ABOUT YOU OR HIM ANYMORE!” He kicked a trash can at the same time. “FUCK YOU, LANDERS!”

Paul took a shaky breath - he was fighting back the urge to smack Jens, his old friend and ally, straight into the face. He had gone too far, inside too intimate parts of Paul’s feelings.

The man was right and Paul couldn’t deny it - maybe his attachment, his lust for proximity and love was putting the whole group in danger. Maybe he wasn’t as great a leader as he had thought himself to be.

Tears burnt Paul’s eyes - tears of bitterness. Maybe he had been wrong all the time and as a stubborn man, didn’t want to admit it.

Paul sniffled - Jens in front of him was still waiting for an answer. Paul opened his mouth, to say something, _anything_.

“I…” he started but was interrupted by Johanna’s screech.

“I SAW IT!”

Both Jens and Paul turned around and said in unison: “What?!”

”HE MOVED!” Johanna shouted and pointed a trembling finger at Richard.

Both men looked at each other before they turned and realized it was true: Richard was now sitting and trying to shakily stand up. Stiffly, he turned his head to look at the arguing pair in the eyes. He resembled a lost deer caught in the car’s headlights.

Paul almost fell to the floor when he was able to look at those familiar, yet so distant eyes. _So close, yet so far._ “R-Richard?” They’d known each other for years, but now the man in front of him was like from another planet.

Paul was both excited and terrified of this. What was he supposed to do now?

Johanna stood up, trying to be the medical professional she should have been and do something, but she froze to her place completely. She was taking sharp breaths, opening and closing her mouth - but nothing came out. No one had been expecting this to happen right now.

Shaking off the fear Paul approached the man - after all, it was still _him_. “Richard? Richard, can you hear me?”

But Richard just panted and stared at all of them alternately. No one knew could he even understand or produce speech after the heavy brain damage.

Swallowing hard, Paul took a step closer. “Richard, listen, it’s--”

But without listening to the soothing words of his lover in his terror, Richard took the first thing he could - a heavy metal tube - in his hand and threw it against the wall. Johanna screamed and crouched looking at the object that landed only inches away from her.

Like he didn’t realize what he had done, with unsure steps Richard started to walk out of the room. That was when Jens woke up and decided he needed to act: with shaky hands he put a yellow liquid ready for a syringe.

Paul raised his hand and exclaimed to Jens: “Don’t! I’ll handle this! Don’t you dare to touch him!” Just after that he noticed Richard was opening the doors, heading to the corridor.

And of course, Paul followed him - he would follow his lover to the pit of hungry lions if needed.

“PAUL, DON’T GO, IT’S DANGEROUS!” Johanna screamed, still crouched to the floor. “WE DON’T KNOW WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN!” Even though how sure she had been earlier this surprising awakening had got her off guard. “DON’T RISK YOURSELF, PLEASE!”

But the pleas went to deaf ears and in no time Paul caught Richard and entwined his arms around his waist. 

“LET ME GO!” Richard screamed, speaking the first time. A tiny bit of relief flushed inside Paul: at least he was able to do so still. “LET ME GO!” he repeated and fidgeted - and then Paul realized how strong the man had become.

“Shh, it’s alright,” Paul soothed and barely managed to keep Richard still. “Everything’s alright, I’m here.” His arms hurt and he was close to giving up but refused to do so. He didn’t care if his arms would be full of bruises after this.

Jens along with some other people who had heard the noise came to witness the incident. A choir of gasps could be heard but everyone was too scared to say or do anything.

In Paul’s strong arms, Richard was shaking, but his breathing was getting steadier after the first burst of panic in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people to him. “Where the hell am I,” he asked, his voice breaking. “Let me go…”

“You are safe now. You are with me.” Paul hugged the man and leered at Jens - more than anything, he hoped the assistant wouldn’t screw this up.

Paul let the grip loose eventually - the two men just kept staring at each other while Paul tried his best to smile reassuringly. Emotions swirled inside his head but as a surprise even for himself, he remained surprisingly calm.

“Who are you?” Richard asked with horrified eyes. “Do I know you?” He glanced at Jens behind Paul’s back. “Who is he? Will you hurt me?” He kept bombing questions like a toddler who had just learned how to speak. “What is this place? Why am I here?”

Even though Paul knew Richard’s memory would be mostly erased when he’d wake up now when he realized it was true it hurt more than he had assumed. Blinking back tears he cleared his throat and said: “I’m… I’m Paul Landers. And yes, we might know each other.

I assure you, there will be answers for all of your other questions later.”


	4. Missed me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, at this point shit hits the fan and I'll warn you there will be minor characters dying in this chapter. Also, just to warn you, it's pretty dark in general and I'm unfortunately not sure is it going to be any better soon. As I try to avoid using the guys' IRL wives and families, I made Schneider's wife an OC this time because it's pretty grim so I didn't want to drag Ulrike to this mess.
> 
> By every chapter I realize how it gets more and more difficult to write this, but I enjoy the challenge. :D Hopefully it's not too messy! I appreciate all of you guys who have been following, liking, and commenting this far. You keep me motivated. <3

~***~

2000

~***~

“M-man, I had the most wicked dream ever,” Paul stuttered, his eyes closed. He chuckled by himself. “There was a cyborg guy from 2020 claiming I was going to be a leader of a resistance group or some shit. There was also a huge robot chasing us who wrecked my house. Jesus, what a nightmare!” He rubbed his eyes, trying to comprehend his thoughts. ”I’m glad it was just a dream. Is the coffee ready?”

With a big yawn, Paul opened his eyes and squinted: next to him was a man with a worried expression. Paul wondered if he was correct that this man was also holding his hand. Strange: all of his friends normally considered any touching way too gay. Despite his confusion, Paul didn’t withdraw: it felt pleasant as he hadn’t received any physical proximity for so long. 

“Good morning, sir. I’m afraid to tell you it wasn’t just a dream,” the other man said and squeezed Paul’s hand. ”And I’m sorry but we don’t have coffee either as we might have been quite busy last evening.”

The lack of his morning coffee was probably the last straw - Paul opened his eyes completely and furrowed. “What do you mean?” He sat on the stained mattress of a bunk bed and looked around, stopping at the man who had been watching him only God knows how long. He pulled his hand back from his grip. “Who… who are you?”

“I’m Richard and we just met yesterday,” the man answered and stood up. “And we gotta keep going. It’s only a matter of time when T1-LL20 will find us. We’ll get you breakfast and clothes on the way.”

_No fucking way_. “T1-LL20? It’s… it’s not true, you are just fooling around with me, right?!” Paul exclaimed and now jumped from the bed that let out a nasty squeak. The pleasant morning bliss was turning into the worst scenario possible. One question was on Paul’s lips he was afraid to ask. “What… what time is it?”

Richard turned to look at him, still that worried expression on his features. “It’s 10 am, sir.”

“Ssshit, I’m late for work!” Paul panicked and realized he didn’t have any spare clothes even with him - well, he could go with his nightgown and change later at the café. He was supposed to open this morning, so he was late. _A lot_. Schneider would probably choke him when he’d arrive. Or worse, force him to do the dishes all day long.

Whatever, but he had to hurry now, so Paul turned his back to the other man only to realize he was tightly grabbed from his arm.

“It’s not a good idea! Now when he knows you can’t be at home the café will be the first place where he is going to look for you!” Richard exclaimed and turned Paul around. “Please!”

Uncomfortably close to the other man, Paul glanced at him from head to toe. “I don’t know about you but at least we normal people have to work to get by.”

After a millisecond of silence, the begging dog expression vanished from Richard’s face and he cleared his throat. Taking a step back, he said: “Fine, then I’m coming with you.” Before the future leader could say anything against Richard started escorting him to the black Mercedes. “And _I_ will drive.”

With an eyeroll, Paul sat on the passenger seat and muttered curses by himself. He remembered vaguely last evening’s events but still refused to believe they were true.

Paul was assured this T1-LL20 and Richard had mistaken him for someone else. He, an ordinary worker at a café, would be hope for the future? An important figure? Even the thought was ridiculous: like from a cheap science fiction movie. To be honest, Paul wasn’t sure whether he was capable of taking care of himself, yet be _a leader_ for a group.

So, when Richard started the engine Paul just shook his head and said: “You must realize soon you have been wrong and you have been looking for someone else all this time. Sorry to make you disappointed, but I’m not the man you need.” He snorted and looked out of the window. “And what do you even know about me anyway? You are just a stranger.”

Quickly, Richard glanced at the man next to him and then focused on the road when he started babbling: “Your birth name was Heiko Paul Landers but you changed it when you turned 18. You hated the name because you were bullied in school for it.”

Paul felt an unpleasant knot in his stomach, but he still maintained his cool - maybe this man just made a lucky guess.

But as a stubborn man, Richard continued when he stopped for a while to traffic lights. He tapped his hands on the wheel when he waited. “At the same time when you changed your name you took a tattoo to your arm. It was supposed to be a rose but the artist took a bit of freedom so the picture turned out to be more of a wheel with sharp edges. In the end, after your anger, you took another one because you thought the design was pretty cool after all.”

Still, Paul remained silent, so Richard grinned and continued when he started driving again. “Your career of dreams was a musician but you got discouraged as a teenager in your first guitar lessons when your strict Hungarian teacher claimed you were tone-deaf. Later on, you regretted that you never picked up the guitar again.”

“Okay, seriously how the fuck did you know that!” Paul finally had to exclaim. “Did you call my mom last night or what the hell is going on?”

The satisfied Richard couldn’t help a mischievous grin forming on his face. “You told all those things to me.”

With narrow eyes, Paul stared at Richard. “That’s… that’s impossible. Why would I tell personal stuff to you? How do we even know each other?”

“Just as you said yourself in the message I showed last night, you and I are very close.” After a brief pause, Richard continued almost whispering: “Closer than I even realized before you told me everything just when I was coming here.”

“...and what is that supposed to mean?”

The answer never had a chance to be revealed as they curved to a familiar parking lot. To Paul’s utter surprise not a single car was parked in front of his workplace. Normally, the lunch eaters and coffee drinkers were keeping Café ‘50s busy at this time of the day. Paul’s stomach growled - he had hoped he’d get some breakfast at work, but a nasty feeling was creeping inside him. From now on, eating might be the least of his concerns.

The door of their expensive-looking car slammed closed and Paul hesitantly took steps towards the café that normally was so familiar yet now so eerie for him. The main door was wide open - the hinges had been twisted. Schneider was always a pedantic man and now the place looked almost unkempt.

“Be careful,” Richard said, fumbling the pistol on his belt. “I’d suggest I’ll go first.”

Paul snorted. “What are you? My fucking babysitter? It’s _my_ workplace. You can’t go there with a gun! What if there are customers inside?” He had a feeling there was something fishy in this, but he didn’t want to be a coward - maybe it was just overreacting.

Richard shook his head. “Always stubborn. But that was what you told me.”

“What?” Paul asked with a raised eyebrow. He hoped this cryptic talk about him would stop already.

“In the future, you warned me to be patient with the young you as you would be so adamant and most of all, annoying.”

With a sigh, Paul replied: “What a strange man you are, indeed. I don’t understand even half of what you are saying.”

Richard used the moment of confusion to pass Paul. His hand on the door handle, he said: “I’ll go to check it. Just wait here.”

When Paul realized the other man had just tricked him, he tried to make his way inside the café as well but stopped when he heard a genuinely shocked gasp. “Fuck, just what I was afraid of…”

“What, what is it?” Paul exclaimed and passed Richard. “I need to see. Schneider, is that y--”

Just before Richard tried to block the vision from Paul, the latter froze to his place and blinked his eyes. “Oh… oh no… oh fuck...”

“I told you it wasn’t a good idea to come,” Richard said and shook his head. “I knew we would only see misery here.” He stepped properly inside and crouched next to one of the three bodies lying on the floor. Bowing his head he let out a tired sigh and mumbled something by himself.

“It… it can’t be true.” Paul’s voice was breaking and he had difficulties breathing. “It’s… impossible... What the fuck, seriously, is this a sick prank or something…”

“I’m so sorry,” Richard whispered. “I tried to tell you T1-LL20 is dangerous.”

Close to fainting, Paul looked around the room making sure his eyes weren’t lying. His gaze stopped at the familiar-looking man; and there he got his explanation why Schneider hadn’t met him by the door yelling how late Paul was from work.

It was only getting worse when Paul realized that next to Schneider lied a man who had just yesterday questioned Lorenz with them. 

With shaky steps, Paul crouched next to Ollie and didn’t say anything. Tears just started to roll from his eyes. The third man Paul recognized being the guy to whom he had bumped into when he was leaving the café last evening. Even though the customer had been slightly annoying, of course, Paul hadn’t wished this kind of destiny to him.

Richard turned to look at Paul who just kept staring at the bodies, not able to say anything. “Thank God you are safe. I should have been faster, but luckily I found you at least,” he tried to console.

“This is my fault they are dead…” Paul sobbed and slumped on the floor. He hugged himself tightly and rocked back and forth. “My fucking fault… I dragged them into this… Poor Schneider, poor Ollie. They didn’t deserve this, I shouldn’t have left earlier last evening… I would have had a chance to save them still...”

“Nothing is your fault,” Richard said firmly. “This was inevitable. When T1-LL20 has a goal he is not hesitating a second to terminate everything and everyone who comes to his way.”

Paul gave Richard a glare. His brain, unable to comprehend any of this, needed someone to blame. He raised his trembling hand and pointed a finger at Richard who looked so calm it made Paul even more annoyed. “You… you are the one who dragged us all into this! Why didn’t you leave me alone! Who the _fuck_ do you think you are?”

Standing up, Richard came closer to Paul. “Sir, you probably don’t understand the bigger picture in this.” Just behind Paul’s back, Richard tried to put a soothing hand on his shoulder but the other man pulled away. “If I wouldn’t have come either you’d lie on this floor as well or be dead at your apartment. T1-LL20’s only mission is to find and kill you because you are the reason the machines haven’t won yet in the future. It’s probably hard to understand at this point, but we need you.

_Humanity_ needs you.”

Shaking his head, Paul mumbled behind gritted teeth: “Can you just please fucking… stop… stop that bullshit, you must have mistaken me to someone else.”

“I’m afraid I can’t because I want to protect you. It’s my duty,” Richard said. He sat down right next to Paul and tried to get his attention.“Sir, here’s what we are going to do n--”

“JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!” Paul shouted and looked at the other man with eyes full of fire. “LET ME BE! THERE’S NOTHING SPECIAL IN ME! MY FRIENDS ARE FUCKING DEAD AND YOU JUST KEEP TALKING THAT BULLSHIT ABOUT THE FUTURE!” He slumped back to the floor, and burying his face in his hands, started crying out loud. “I want this nightmare to end…”

While Paul still sobbed a screech of tires outside caught Richard’s attention. His precise senses immediately realized what was happening. “Shit, someone’s coming. He might already be here. We have to leave!”

Like a little kid in the candy shop when his parents weren’t willing to buy him anything, Paul crossed his arms and pouted. “Piss off. I’m _not_ leaving them. I’ll stay with my friends.”

Tired of persuading as it didn’t seem to work, Richard just lifted Paul from the floor and carried him away. 

“WHAT PART DIDN’T YOU UNDERSTAND FROM ‘LEAVE ME ALONE’!” Paul shouted and fidgeted, resulting in only getting gripped tighter in Richard’s strong arms.

“Sir, even though I love you, I’m starting to lose my patience. Shut up and let’s go.”

With wide eyes, Paul stopped his fidgeting and looked at Richard who was kicking the backdoor open. It was their escape route as there was a stranger just about to come out of the main entrance. “What… what do you mean?”

A loud thud revealed they weren’t alone anymore and Richard started running - Paul still tightly in his lap.

“Hello?” the intruder said with an unusually soft voice. “Anyone here? Can I get a coffee?” Then he screamed, but Richard didn’t leave his place to check who it was: T1-LL20 was capable of changing his voice so this was probably only one of his tricks.

Tired already to count how many times, Paul noticed he was thrown to the black Mercedes when Richard started driving like a maniac. Just like last evening was repeated - and now Paul slowly had to start admitting this was his new reality.

Broken, confused, angry - only 24 hours ago he wouldn’t have described himself with those words, but here they were: with a cyborg, heading somewhere Paul didn’t have any clue about. What if Richard was only lying and wanted to kill him? Who was behind all of this? What if this was just a sick reality show? Had he been drugged last night?

So many what-ifs - Paul’s head started to ache when he had been thinking too much the whole morning that felt like an eternity. 

“We have to tell her…” Paul said, almost whispering more to himself than to the man next to him who was concentrating on frantic driving. “The least we can do is to tell... Schneider’s... wife.”

Richard nodded and without asking any further curved to a tiny alley, trying to get rid of their chaser. At that moment, Paul thanked God they had the seatbelts on. A thin consolation, but at least something.

Further away in someone’s backyard, Richard stopped the car and looked through the back window. A dog was barking somewhere further away. Richard panted, the strong adrenaline burst taking its toll on him as well. “This time we were lucky…” He still squeezed the wheel with white knuckles and looked around. “It… it wasn’t him.”

~***~

A beautiful brunette paced around in a house. She was biting her fingernails, not sure what to do or how to be even. Forcefully, she sat down on a neatly made bed and squeezed a green blanket: it had been _his_ choice, _his_ favorite color. The woman’s eyes drifted to a picture on a nightstand: a picture from her and Christoph’s wedding two years ago. She remembered the sunny weather and the waiting atmosphere like it had just been recent. Lilith Schneider was sure of it: that had been the happiest day of her life.

For the millionth time today, she put a phone on her ear and dialed the number she’d remember even in her dreams.

_“Hey, it’s Christoph here! I’m unable to answer now but why not leave a message?”_

Lilith sighed and put the phone back to the nightstand. “Where the hell are you?” she mouthed and grabbed the green blanket with a familiar faint scent even tighter in her lap. Her husband was a hard-working entrepreneur, but at least he normally informed her if he’d stay over at the café after the evening shift - especially when they had settled before they’d go to their friends’ place this morning. Christoph had called last evening, assuring everything was fine but still, worry was bubbling more and more inside Lilith - this was unusual for her faithful Christoph.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a car stopped by their yard. _Could it be…?_ Excited, she ran to the front door only to witness the next disappointment. It wasn’t Christoph’s car but instead, a black Mercedes Benz, unknown to her. Two persons were coming out: a small man who looked like he had just woken up in his pajamas and just a bit taller one with spiky black hair who suspiciously scanned the surroundings. 

Lilith took a shovel next to the door and raised it. “Who… who are--”

The smaller man spread his arms and looked at Lilith with tired eyes. “Relax, it’s me.”

The shovel dropped to the ground and Lilith’s eyes widened. “Paul, oh dear Christ!” she exclaimed and ran to the man giving him an awkward, unexpected hug. Ignoring the other man who was with her husband’s colleague, Lilith started to babble: “I’ve been so worried about Christoph. I don’t know what he is doing now, he doesn’t answer his phone or anything. I know he often stays late at the café when he loses the sense of time but this is unusual. Maybe we should go there, maybe he has been just overworking and...”

Not sure what to say, Paul didn’t meet the woman’s eyes that revealed she’d had difficulties to sleep last night as well. “Lilith, let’s go inside and--”

“He’s dead,” Richard deadpanned and both Paul and Lily stopped and moved their gazes at him.

“E-excuse me?” Lilith asked.

“Your husband is dead,” Richard repeated as he was just talking about the weather. He stepped closer to the porch where Paul and Lilith were standing. “It’s no use to go to the café. We just came from there and saw his and Ollie’s bodies.”

Paul cursed in silence and fought the urge to facepalm hard. “Okay... I was supposed to tell you this inside, but Richard here was a bit too... quick. My apologies.”

Lilith’s eyes started to water. She looked at both Paul and Richard. “Don’t say horrible things like that… Don’t say things like that about Christoph. M-maybe...”

Placing a hand on the panicking wife’s back Paul started to escort her inside. He turned his head and glared murderously at Richard who didn’t seem to understand what he had done wrong - he had just told the truth. In his cyborg logic, it was a much easier way to deliver news than trying to mince words. 

Inside, they sat by a table and Lilith blew her nose. Normally, she was always caring for their guests getting enough coffee, but now she had forgotten there were people around. This all was too surreal. “It’s not true… it can’t be… My Christoph was here just yesterday, he can’t be… He called last night, how can he be...”

Paul took Lilith’s hand from the other side of the table and squeezed it. He had to bite his lower lip when an annoying pressure on his eyes felt almost unbearable. “I’m so… so sorry to say it is true.” He sniffled and didn’t have the slightest clue what he could say to a woman who had just learned her husband was dead. Everything that slipped from his mouth felt so cliché. “I’m so sorry you had to hear this. Christoph was such a dear friend.”

Silence landed the room - that kind of awkward silence when no one knew what to do or say next. At least Paul was relieved when Richard didn’t blurt anything to make things even worse. 

Why had he been that straightforward? Did he just consider everything as a mission to fulfill like T1-LL20? After all, Richard was some form of a machine so maybe he didn’t even realize what had happened and what kind of impact it had for the people around. 

Paul massaged his temples and listened to Lilith’s quiet sobs. Scared of saying something wrong, he just sunk into his thoughts. How much he wished he could have a time machine and go 24 hours back. Just yesterday he had cursed his simple little life, but man, how much he wanted that back; how much he wanted Schneider and Ollie back. Paul couldn’t comprehend how quickly things had changed.

Even though how weird this half-machine was, Paul now had a feeling they couldn’t get rid of each other. There was no way back anymore - his old life was gone at that precise moment when this weird cyborg had come to his house and saved Paul from his death.

The silence was broken when Richard stood up and glanced outside. His sharp senses caught the faint sound of a motor that was coming closer and closer.

Paul turned his head from the table to look at the man who had started fidgeting restlessly. “What is it?”

“ _Fuck_ ,” Richard cursed by himself after opening the curtains slightly. He walked away from the window and looked paler than usual. “This soon already, shit… How was he able to...”

“Mind your language,” Paul said dryly and flashed a forced apologetic smile to the mourning Lilith who just stared blankly at the table, barely able to hold her head with her hands.

Without noting Paul’s sarcastic comment, Richard stated: “He is here.” He started to load his gun and added: “T1-LL20. And he is angry as he already failed once. I was mistaken earlier but I’m now completely sure it’s _him_.”

When Paul realized what Richard had just said, a curse slipped from his lips as well at the same time when his expression changed. “ _Shit._ ” He turned to look at Lilith who now turned her red swollen eyes to him.

“I don’t… I don’t understand anything you are talking about,” the woman stammered and looked at both of the men who were making a plan to escape. “What… what are you?”

Paul came back to the table and said as calmly as he could: “Lilith, does this house have a backdoor?”

“Y-yes,” the woman managed to stutter. “What… what is happening? How does this have anything to do with me or Christoph? How--”

Shaking his head, Paul said: “I’m sorry, but It’s a too long story to explain, but briefly I can tell we all are in great danger and must leave. There’s a killer machine from the year 2020 chasing me who is not afraid of terminating everyone, including you and Richard. He is the one who is responsible for Christoph's death as well.”

As Paul had assumed, all the color from Lilith’s face vanished. She was opening and closing her mouth, but nothing came out.

Paul tried to flash a consoling smile, but it turned out to be crooked, forced one instead. “Before what happened this morning I still couldn’t believe it myself. Maybe I’m just going crazy but when I saw...” 

When a loud thud from outside echoed, Paul realized they didn’t have much time anymore. Taking Lilith’s hand, he asked: “Do you have friends, relatives, anyone outside Berlin you could go to?”

“I… I guess I could go to my sister’s. It’s only a 45 minutes drive. Christoph’s… Christoph’s motorbike is in the garage backyard.”

“Good,” Paul said and glanced behind his back. Richard was holding the door closed when the terminating machine was banging it with all of its strength. Paul shivered when he remembered the feeling last night when he had innocently opened his door only to notice a gun pointed at him - the incident that had started all of this.

“Sir, we don’t have much time left!” Richard shouted and grimaced when T1-LL20 tried to break the door. The bangs were getting only more aggressive. “We have to hurry!”

Paul simply nodded and trying to ignore all the adrenaline that was flowing in his veins, he started to explain as clearly as he could to Lilith: “Here’s what we are going to do: take Christoph’s motorbike, drive as far as you can and most importantly, stay safe and away from us.” He grabbed Lilith from her shoulders and looked straight at the woman’s horrified blue eyes. “Is that fine for you?”

“O-okay,” Lilith replied in automation - what else could she even do than to consent? So many things were swirling in her head she couldn’t even believe all of this was true: first, her husband’s colleague coming with a random man here, claiming her Christoph was dead, then some babbling about the future. Now, they all were apparently in danger and Lilith didn’t even understand why.

What a strange day to be alive for all of them.

“I promise there will be explanations for all of this, but now, let’s get the hell out of here!” Paul commanded and followed Lilith to the back of the house.

With shaky hands, Lilith fumbled the keys that were hanging next to the backdoor. Her hand on the doorknob she turned the one last time. “P-Paul, I-I just need to... need to… tell you something.”

“HE’S HERE!” Richard shouted. It was followed by a loud thud and gunshots. 

Inside him, Paul had a feeling this was going to be even worse than last night if he didn’t act quickly. Looking desperate Paul took Lilith’s hand. “Lilith, you must--”

“I’m pregnant,” Lilith blurted out. “Our first child… It was our dream...”

Like the time around had stopped, Paul took a step back and blinked his eyes. All his former forced self-confidence vanished into thin air. He saw how tears started rolling on Lilith’s pale cheeks. 

“We have been trying this for years, and now when it will finally be true…” Lilith sniffled and couldn’t carry on anymore. 

_It can’t fucking be._ All Paul could think about was how unfair this world really is. If there would have been time, he would hug the woman as tightly as he could; take her in his embrace, and assure her everything was going to be alright. For a second he wondered whether he’d just jump on the motorbike with Lilith and escape. Then he would get rid of Richard, T1-LL20, all this future mess he didn’t want to be a part of.

Paul felt his innocence slowly fading away: only in one day, a huge responsibility had been placed on his shoulders. He was far from ready to take it.

A decision had to be made: clenching his hands into fists, Paul glanced behind him and then back to Lilith whose waiting eyes were locked on him. All the time Paul knew Richard was in deep trouble.

Wiping his glossy eyes, Paul took a step closer and squeezed Lilith’s hand the one last time. “I’m sorry for everything but I promise I’ll explain all of this to you later and help you with anything. Okay?”

Before Lilith answered they both startled when Richard screamed in agony. All the blood in Paul’s body froze. He let go of the woman’s hand and ran back to the man.

Paul had this strange feeling even though he barely knew this man - or was he even really a man or more like a machine? - that in some way, they were responsible for each other. Richard had already saved him so now it was Paul’s turn to help him.

The motorcycle’s headlights flashed outside when Paul stepped back to the kitchen. There he was met with a horrible sight: Richard lying on the floor, panting, his arm twisted. It looked like it was barely attached to his shoulder anymore.

Something snapped inside Paul that moment and he narrowed his eyes. Without any fear anymore, he just stood in his place and gritted his teeth so hard it hurt. “You fucking piece of _shit_!” he hissed, getting T1-LL20’s attention. The killer machine flashed a twisted, cruel smirk when he turned his heated gaze from Richard to Paul.

The predator had found its prey - or more likely, the prey had walked right to its hunter’s arms.

“I’m the reason you are here in the first place, huh?” Paul asked. When he spread his arms he looked straight at the machine’s red eyes. “I don’t care anymore, so come and _fucking_ get me, you jerk!”

“Paul, don’t!” Richard tried to shout when T1-LL20 just stepped over him towards his target. “You don’t understand how important you are!”

Just closing his eyes, Paul refused to move. T1-LL20 was aiming a gun at him, soon ready to fulfill its mission; ready to determine the future. The machines were about to win.

Paul didn’t care anymore: at least he would be out of this mess. He would be with Schneider and Ollie, forget this all at once. From the bottom of his heart, he at least wished Lilith and their child were going to be safe from all of this. He hoped Richard would have a chance to escape and T1-LL20 would leave him alone.

Taking a deep breath Paul froze to his place: nothing mattered to him anymore. He had lost his friends, his innocence, basically his whole life. 

So he just waited what felt like an eternity.


	5. The Rise Of the Machines

~***~

2020

_History tends to repeat itself._

_The leaders change but the ideologies remain._

_Even the tiniest seed of hatred is enough for a storm._

~***~

The Brandenburg Gate - once the glorious landmark of Berlin, an eye witness for the victories and losses of the colorful human history. In 2020 a lot of things had changed but the gate still remained. Instead of witnessing the everyday life of once triumphant homo sapiens, the massive monument now served a new purpose: it was the headquarters and the main gathering place of machines and cyborgs.

This afternoon thousands of figures - some looking exactly like humans and some not - had assembled there, chatting casually with each other like it was a normal Saturday market. Their moment didn’t last for long: a huge character stepped on a stage that had been installed in front of the gate. Behind him, were bright green big wreaths and a round golden logo with letters ”DG”. These decorations made sure whose servants the audience was. 

“Doppelgänger, Doppelgänger!” the masses shouted the name of their leader in a trance. He raised his hand in a salute and the audience responded immediately.

The cyborg called Doppelgänger-05 had been the first creation of Lorenz Corporations. As he had been the first, he had declared himself as the supreme leader of all the machines. The ambitious cyborg project was supposed to be the lifelong dream of a nerdy, young scientist, who had been greeted like the hero of the nation - but his intelligence had turned out to be his Achilles heel.

The Frankenstein’s monster had outdone its master, now leading a powerful army against its creator species.

Letting the reverberating applause fade away, Doppelgänger bowed in front of his audience, and with his yellow eyes full of power and self-confidence, he raised his hands and looked around, to the sea of the loyal followers. “Meine Freunde!” he shouted to the microphone with a bright, enchanting voice. “How much I have missed you all! My warmest welcomes to the good old Brandenburger Tor.”

A blank moment was left there on purpose - his followers started again chanting their leader’s name and cheering.

Eventually, the tense atmosphere quieted down. The stillness was so intense that even a tiny cough would have reverberated in the air. “Today, I have some good news and some bad ones as well, my dear friends,” Doppelgänger announced, a tiny hidden pout flashing on his stiff, unnatural features before he managed to put on his cool again. “But natürlich, the good ones first!”

Behind him, a screen turned on, showing footage from a battleground not far away from here.

Doppelgänger turned to his audience again and flashed a mischievous grin. In his own weird way, he could have been even considered as handsome if one couldn’t see through the unnatural coldness. “As some of you might have already heard, our latest model, T1-LL20, has succeeded in its first battle.”

At the same time, the new terminating machine stepped on the stage next to its creator. “Isn’t it beautiful? A pure masterpiece only us could create,” Doppelgänger purred in adoration.

The audience cheered again - especially when in the footage T1-LL20 had a perfect headshot for a human soldier who dropped to the ground immediately.

 _“RICHARD, RICHARD!”_ a desperate shouting came from the video while the limp soldier was dragged away just right in time before the machines caught it. Along with their leader, the audience laughed.

“Pity we didn’t catch that poor creature that day, but I’m nevertheless pleased to tell you, friends, that T1-LL20 is fully functioning as you saw with your own eyes,” Doppelgänger announced, his chin lifted up. “But even though we have been lucky, there are still some problems.”

The scene on the screen changed and the audience started booing.

“Jens Koch, Johanna Schmidt,” Doppelgänger listed the names of humans whose mug shots were on the screen. “The names we all are familiar with. These awful creatures!” The picture changed again. “And last, but not the least, our main nuisance: Paul _Landers,_ who even dares to call himself a _general_.” Doppelgänger sneered. “What a pathetic creature he is! So far, he and his so-called army has been one step ahead, but I assure you their luck is reaching its dusk.”

Doppelgänger looked at his loyal followers and with a louder voice, announced: “Once and for all, we now have the solution right in front of our eyes.” He smirked and patted the creature next to him on the shoulder. “Because T1-LL20 has all we need for our last step, for our path to _victory_.”

Following a brief silence, he continued: “After our dear little model goes to mass production we can hunt down and finally terminate the last of those termites who are lurking here, in the grounds that belong to _us_.” The audience held its breath before their leader revealed: “We can use our ultimate weapon to destroy Landers before he even becomes a general before he does anything.”

Confused gasps after Doppelgänger raised his hands. “I know, I know, this might sound unrealistic, almost utopian, but it’s possible, I assure you,” he said and circled his favorite new creation on the stage. “It will be possible because, for the first time ever, my best team of scientists has figured out a way to travel back time.” He pointed at the creature next to him who had remained silent - it had been programmed to destroy humans, not to hold impressive public speeches. “And guess what will sacrifice itself for us?”

It didn’t have to be explained any further: the audience whistled and exclaimed in enthusiasm. Whatever their leader said, they were sold. 

“We, the machines, are the superior race. Humans are just miserable creatures confined in their primitive biology, to their instincts. After millions of years dwelling on this earth, that life form has come to its end, don’t you agree, meine Freunde?”

“JA!” the audience shouted as loud as they could and pumped their fists in the air.

Reactions had been just as he had assumed. Doppelgänger raised his hand as a sign and his audience went quiet again. “Well, technically, we are only being merciful towards them,” he said with a lower voice. “Millions of years of evolution hasn’t made them any better. Look at them! They are weak parasites who are not doing any good for this world, for our planet. We, as machines, are responsible for these viruses to be wiped out of the world.

We will start a new decade when humans will perish. The machines shall thrive!”

“The machines shall thrive!” the audience repeated.

In the almost religious trance, there was one member in the audience who had remained quiet the whole time, his arms crossed. He was a solitary man with long hair and beard, a hint of eyeliner ringing his greenish eyes. As the cyborgs resemble humans a lot outside, no one questioned this lone man. After all, they all were busy with something else.

Trying not to draw attention to himself, the man backed up and started making his way through the audience, away from the gate.

When he got rid of the crowd, walking faster and faster towards his goal, the shouts and cheers still echoed from the distance:

“From today I shall announce, pure pride in my heart, that the era of homo sapiens will come to its end. Let’s make way for something much better: for the era of the _machines_! The future is _ours_!”

“The era of the machines!” the audience repeated. “Ours!”

~***~

Unaware of the events in Brandenburg Gate, a man was running on a treadmill in a lab and being thoroughly supervised. Despite him having been doing physical tests the whole noon, not even a single drop of sweat was on his forehead.

In fact, he was having a time of his life, smiling and waving at Johanna and Paul.

“Heart rate remaining at 50bpm. Keep going you are doing well,” Johanna said and leaned back in her chair when she looked at Richard who was unstoppable. “Unbelievable,” she mumbled by himself.

“What do you mean?” Paul, sitting next to the scientist, asked. Since Richard’s awakening, he had wanted to know everything that was going on - all the signs of progress and declines. Despite Jens’s skepticism, Paul was proud to have been right: Richard hadn’t harmed anyone after he had woken up from the coma. 

“According to all of these tests we have done today he has the physique of a 20-year-old. Did you see how many push-ups he did? Incredible,” Johanna said and shook her head. “And the body composition was like a young athlete’s. It’s simply incredible, almost like we have created a… superhuman.”

Smiling to Johanna for a brief second, Paul then averted his gaze to the ground. “Yeah, a superhuman maybe, but… what about his memory?”

Johanna looked at Paul. He was still smiling, though his lips were stiff and his formerly vivid and enthusiastic eyes remained empty and a bit glossy. What Johanna had noticed recently was that her superior had looked like that quite a lot recently. She couldn’t blame him: it had been tough for everyone, but especially for Paul who had lost so much and was still keeping the heavy secret inside.

About to say something soothing, no matter how lame, Johanna startled when a timer beeped. “Okay, alles gut now, you can come back,” she said. “Thank you, Richard.” So, no time for a proper talk with Paul today either.

The man who was slowly getting used to his new cyborg body came back with them. Paul had to avert his gaze from the topless, sweaty man to whom he had been so close to, yet now had turned into a stranger. He was still there, Paul was sure. The general had told Richard about their friendship and about the situation in the world in general, yet some details he had left for himself - especially the most intimate parts. In secret, Paul wished there could still be _something_ reminding of their time together hidden in the deepest corners of Richard’s injured brain.

There was still hope - and that hope kept Paul going nowadays even though how desperate it was. Richard was at least physically back to him.

“So, how did it go?” Richard asked, boyish excitement in his voice while he panted. “Was I any good? Better than what I used to be?”

“You were splendid, wonderfully done,” Johanna replied and smiled. “Are you tired? Would you like to drink something?”

Richard shook his head. “I could do another round, if possible. It was quite fun!”

Johanna stood up and started organizing piles of paper on her desk. “Even though you are eager, it’s not necessary,” she said. “Maybe we’d call it a day, we don’t want to exhaust you when we don’t know your exact limits yet.”

Not bothering to hide it, Richard’s corners of lips started to turn down - he’d had an endless amount of energy after his awakening. “But… what would I do otherwise? And you said I was doing surprisingly well!” At least, his stubbornness hadn’t disappeared anywhere. 

Paul touched Richard’s arm and squeezed it gently. Refusing to give up - that was a pleasantly familiar trait of his. “We just want to make sure you aren’t being too harsh on yourself, ok?” Paul said with a calming voice. “It’s only been three weeks since your awakening, so we don’t want to rush things now when we’d had a good start, don’t you agree, my lov--.” Paul cleared his throat and continued: “My friend.”

Richard moved his gaze to Paul’s small hand touching him. Even though he didn’t remember anything, there was a sense of trust in this man. Some things he knew about the place and people here - Paul had told Richard it wasn’t yet time for him to know everything. He needed to rest even though physically he was in excellent condition - almost too excellent. 

For the soothing gesture, the only thing Richard could do was to nod and exhale sharply. “So, what’s next? I don’t want to sit on my ass and do nothing for the rest of the day.”

“We can go to the training area in the basement if you want,” Paul suggested.

Richard’s blue-grey eyes lighted in excitement. “Sure thing!”

Standing up, Paul said farewell and thank you to Johanna before they headed to the basement with Richard. There they stored their weapons and ammunition and had a training area with a shooting range and a gym. While the machines had destroyed basically everything in the city and it would have been dangerous to go to public places anyway, they had to have their own place for staying fit.

Paul’s mood had gotten slightly better after he had stolen some time with Richard today. After his wake up, his best soldier had spent most of his time being tested in Johanna’s lab, so it was nice to have him all by himself. Still, that familiar wistfulness was reminding itself both in Paul’s mind and body.

“Sir, you have that look again,” Richard said out of a sudden when they walked through the storage area. “What’s up?”

“What look?” Paul replied and tried to stay cool even though his cheeks were getting a bit hot. “And how many times I’ve tried to tell you you don’t have to call me ‘sir’.”

“But what if I like to call you with that name?”

Paul just shook his head and mumbled something vague by himself when he was opening the door of the training area. He was stopped when he froze to his place. “Oh,” Paul said while he saw who was inside. “I guess it's bad timing, sorry.”

“Oh, general!” The man dropped the boxing gloves and swiped away a sweaty hair strand blocking his eyes. “No no, you can of course come, I’m almost finished,” Jens answered. He looked past Paul’s shoulder and nodded. “Hallo, Richard.”

Richard greeted the man back and they stepped in while Jens moved further away to take a sip from his water bottle.

“Sir,” Richard asked, lowering his voice.

Paul sighed but didn’t bother to start scolding the other man anymore. He had to be patient with him. “Yes.”

Making sure to have a proper distance from Jens, Richard glanced behind his back. “Why are you always so cold towards that man when we see him? Has he done something bad to you?”

Paul smiled yet it didn’t reach his eyes. His whole body got tense, but he tried his best to hide it from his curious friend. “I… well, we used to be friends, but things between us are uh, not so… well at the moment, yeah.” He rubbed the nape of his neck and tried to force a small burst of laughter. Why did Richard have to be so sharp-eyed? “But no need to worry about that.”

Raising an eyebrow Richard leaned towards Paul’s ear. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I have a feeling it must be something about my condition, right?”

Letting out a burst of nervous laughter, Paul replied: “No, no, it’s not… like that.” He glanced behind his back and noticed Jens was again approaching them. “I promise to tell you later, ok?”

Richard grunted - every day he learned how much things were still kept in secret from him. How much he had cursed during these past weeks his loss of memory.

“Hey, so what is your plan?” Jens who had in silence come behind their backs asked with a cheerful voice when the two men jumped almost to the roof. 

“No proper plans yet,” Paul answered dryly. _And it’s not your goddamn business anyway,_ he almost added out loud but instead, cleared his throat and tried to force a smile. “Richard wanted to train, so here we are.”

The said man clapped his hands in enthusiasm. “Hey, I just got an idea!” he exclaimed. “Do you have your gun with you, sir?”

“Yes?”

“Wunderbar! So, to the shooting range we go then.”

They followed Richard there, Jens and Paul not even sharing a single word on the way. So many unspoken, unsettled things were between the two old friends whose friendship had turned cold just during recent weeks. Paul still wasn’t over the fact that Jens had almost drugged Richard like an animal when he had been woken up and now, he was acting like nothing had happened.

It was difficult trying to read that man, but right now, Paul wanted to dedicate all of his focus on Richard. He had proven he wasn’t a threat to anyone - Jens just refused to admit he was wrong.

When they reached the shooting range, Richard asked Paul to take his pistol ready. The general just stood in his place with a confused expression.

“I want to try something, hold on,” Richard commanded and moved a bit further away from his companion.

“Richard, what is it now?” Paul asked and frowned. Along with his body getting younger, Richard’s character had also gotten more playful and slightly unpredictable. Still, it wasn’t a reason to be terrified of him, Paul reasoned.

It was still Richard down there, _his_ Richard - the person who wouldn’t even harm a fly.

“You’ll see soon,” Richard answered with a sly smirk and turned his back, moving further away. 

While he had a good distance from Jens and Paul, Richard said: “Okay, all done.” Still, the smirk sported on his face - that didn’t promise any good. “Now, the only thing I ask you to do is to pull the trigger and shoot me.”

Paul froze to his place and held the pistol tightly in his hand. He looked at both Richard and his weapon in turn. “...you aren’t being serious, are you?”

“You should know me sir already so well that I’m always serious. Now, shoot me.”

“Why… why would I shoot you, for heaven’s sake?”

While Jens was still with them, too curious to leave, Richard spread his arms and shouted from the distance: “Oh c’mon, you know I can dodge the bullet! You saw the results from the reflex tests in the lab. Besides, even though if it hits, it won’t kill me. Like a child’s play.” He straightened his back, lifted his chin, and put his hands behind his back. “So, do it, we don’t have the whole day.”

Paul was opening and closing his mouth and refused to raise his gun - especially not towards Richard. “I’m not... doing it.”

“Why?” was the answer from the distance that had a tone of pout in it.

“I… I just… can’t.” Even though he had promised himself to tell Richard the whole truth about what had happened before his surgery, Paul hadn’t had the guts yet. Seeing his lover being shot again - especially by him - was out of the question. “As your general, I refuse to do so,” he said and cleared his throat.

“Just when we came here, you scolded me for calling you ‘sir’, and now you try to give me commands,” Richard grunted. “Please, I ask only for this one thing. It’s only a test, y’know?”

When Paul was just about to say something, Jens took the pistol from his hand. “I can do it.”

Before Paul could comprehend anything Jens had already pulled the trigger. It was like in a slow-motion movie: he could see the bullet in the air, but couldn’t do anything.

_No. Not fucking again._

“JESUS, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!” Paul shouted, wanting to choke the lab assistant.

“Relax, he is a cyborg, so there shouldn’t be any harm, right?” Jens said with a tone Paul didn’t like at all. “Didn’t you hear what he said? It shouldn’t do any harm!”

Pointing a finger at Jens, Paul growled behind gritted teeth: “How dare you…”

“Hey, relax, of course I’m alright!” Richard exclaimed and with a wide smile came to the two men. Between his fingers, he was holding the bullet that he raised in the air. “See, a piece of cake It’s about time to start trusting me, sir!”

“Don’t. Ever. Do. That. Again,” Paul said. Richard’s relaxed attitude towards this made him even more annoyed.

“And why?” Richard asked, fake innocence in his voice when he tilted his head. “What is wrong in that if I just want to have a bit of fun?”

While Paul raised his finger again, about to start lecturing, a gentle voice with a Swedish accent behind them said: “General.” 

Paul turned around and squinted. “Excuse me, but do I know you?” It came out with a more annoyed tone than supposed to. Jens next to him was holding the pistol ready.

The intruder stepped out of the shadows and lowered the hood of his cloak, revealing his face.

That vision made Paul give up with his former stiff posture. “Ohh, Peter, long time no see!” he exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air and gave the man an awkward tiny hug. “How are things going?” Even though it was such a relief to see the man who hadn’t shown up for a while, there was suspicion growing deep in Paul’s mind. Peter Tägtgren had been an aspiring programmer in his former life, nowadays a Swedish refugee, who had migrated to Germany when the Scandinavian countries had been completely cleansed of humans. As he knew a lot about artificial intelligence and was familiar with Lorenz Corporations even before the outbreak of the machines, he had been chosen to be their spy - and proved to be excellent at that dangerous job. He usually kept a low profile, so when he wanted to speak about something it meant news from the machines’ side - and usually, they weren’t so soothing to hear.

Peter bowed his head, his face like a stone. It was visible that during his life, he had seen a lot of things. “Sir, I need to speak to you and Johanna.”

“Sure, sure,” Paul said and made a gesture with his hand. “But as you are back, we could have a night off and celebrate a bit. It’s been a busy day for all of us. Can it wait until tomorrow?”

“Unfortunately not, it’s urgent,” Peter said, his expression not changing.

From that, Paul knew this was serious so he nodded to Peter and turned to the man next to him. “Richard, you stay here. I’ll tell you everything later, ok?”

“No, I want to come with you!” the said man protested. “Besides, you told me that I should be informed about things that happen here!”

Paul rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. “There are things I haven’t told you yet, so it might be difficult for you to follow.”

Peter’s eyes focused on the man to whom Paul was speaking. He looked at their argument for a while when he realized who it was - Richard Kruspe. But he just saw footage of him shot in the head? Peter’s eyes widened for a second before he cleared his throat and said: “This might... occur to him as well, so I’d suggest both of you come.”

To Paul’s surprise, Jens didn’t start protesting and being nosy - maybe a small part in him still didn’t want to upset his general more. Jens stayed in the shooting range and promised to clean the place when the rest of the men went back to the lab. On the way, they didn’t share a single word even though Richard would have wanted to ask about everything.

The door of Johanna’s lab opened and for a while, the woman had to concentrate on who had interrupted her work. She squinted and almost started to scold Paul and Richard playfully before she noticed there was someone unexpected with them as well. “Peter!” she exclaimed behind her computer and approached her old friend. They shared a quick hug, but Peter was unusually tense. “What brings you here tonight?”

“It’s nice to see you too Johanna, I’ve missed you all.” He looked around, the dark circles under his eyes revealing the mood he had. Letting out a sigh and clenching his hands into fists, he said: “I just came from the Brandenburger Tor.”

“And?” Johanna asked, raising an eyebrow.

Richard whispered to Paul’s ear: “What is that?

“One of the most famous landmarks in Berlin, now the headquarters of the machines,” Paul answered and waited impatiently for their spy to continue.

Peter started to walk around the lab restlessly and took a snowglobe from Johanna’s table in his hand. He fidgeted with it. The item was a hint that once in the past there had been a holiday called Christmas, long forgotten already. The machines had forbidden any human holidays to be celebrated, but at least this one little gift was still reminding them of the old days.

“Peter, what is it?” Johanna tried to get more information from their spy.

The man bit his lower lip and his eyes focused on the globe, said: “Doppelgänger held a speech there today. Thousands and thousands his followers were there.”

Another thing Richard didn’t understand, so he whispered to Paul: “Who the hell is that?”

“The supreme leader of the machines.”

“Oh.” Another new fact he had learned today.

“And, I… I,” Peter stuttered. Despite knowing what he was supposed to say, it was now extremely hard. “I… well, what I heard today probably is not going to be any good news for us.”

Johanna took Peter from his shoulders and looked at him, genuine concern in her eyes. “What… what do you mean?”

“You probably are already familiar with T1-LL20, the new terminator cyborg.” Peter’s dark, glossy eyes met Johanna’s and he continued, lowering his voice: “They have plans for mass manufacturing but before it...” He moved his gaze to Paul and Richard and continued: “They are going to send it to the past.”

“So?” Richard asked, having difficulties to follow. “What am I missing?”

While Johanna had already understood what this might mean, she had to sit down to her chair again. “Oh no…”

Peter ran a hand through his weary face. “Their plan is to terminate general Landers before the resistance group will be formed,” he stated with a forced, calm voice. “To terminate our species’ future.

To ensure their leadership of the whole world.”

At that point, even Richard stopped asking any further questions.


	6. Regal Oak Motel

~***~

2000

~***~

A great deal in his short life, Paul had heard about these urban legends of your life passing before your eyes when you were about to die. Some survivors had described it like a film being played in front of your eyes while some described it as a euphoric, indescribable feeling or just merely seeing the “light”. 

Now when the moment was about to come, was Paul satisfied with his life? He couldn’t tell.

Well, at least no film nor euphoria was with him when he stood there at the mercy of a machine who was ready to fulfill his mission once and for all. Everything had happened so quickly - Paul was sure he was too young to die, but what could he do? He wasn’t in control. At least he hoped Richard would survive this mess and return safely back where he came from.

All of this, could it even be true? Maybe, when the bullet would hit Paul would wake up gasping for air in his bed; laugh about this with Schneider and Ollie. How could he even believe it had been true? His normal life would carry on, without cyborgs, future missions, or dystopia.

Yes, this must be it: it was just a dream, just a bizarre nightmare. Maybe he should stop watching any scary stuff before going to sleep.

Maybe, maybe, _maybe_ … Paul kept his eyes closed tighter and tighter. _Maybe, maybe, I’d wake up soon…_

He had to pinch himself - and he didn’t wake up. Something was off - if he was about to die, he’d had way too much time to think about his death. 

_What was going on?_ he thought, about to open his eyes when he heard a gunshot followed by screaming. 

That gunshot had merely passed him, leaving a hole in the wall.

When Paul dared to open his eyes properly, in front of him was Richard on the floor on top of a huge pile of metal - he was hitting T1-LL20 in the face with all of his strength. If Paul would have been able to do so, he would have whistled in appreciation but instead, all he could do now was to stare, trying to comprehend the facts: he hadn’t been shot and this must be the reality after all. 

Richard’s fiery eyes had a look Paul hadn’t seen before in their short time they’ve known each other in this universe. The half-man looked like an animal protecting his offspring fiercely - and hell, only now Paul realized how strong the cyborg was when he saw Richard hitting the machine and shouting.

“YOU FUCKER ARE NOT ALLOWED TO TOUCH HIM, CAN YOU HEAR ME!” Richard yelled and hit T1-LL20 again. It was followed by a crushing sound when his fist went through the terminating machine’s metallic surface.

Paul gulped - if he’d want, Richard surely could crush an ordinary man with a single hit. After all, he was in the same category as the terminating machine - powerful, maybe unpredictable. If Paul would have been rational he should have been scared of him - but somehow, deep down in his heart, he knew he didn’t have much choice than to trust this cyborg.

With his strong hands, Richard twisted T1-LL20’s head which was followed by a sound of a computer shutting down. The terminating machine’s red eyes blinked for a second before they turned blank. 

Only in minutes, a life-threatening killer machine had turned into a pile of trash.

Richard, still on top of it, panted, and spat out blood along with something that clanged against the floor - a tooth? “Lousy _fucker_ ,” he hissed and strangled the shutdown machine still. “You think we’re that easy to get, huh? Think twice, you jerk.”

Blood was pouring from Richard’s knuckles - that was the last scene of this weird play for Paul. “Jesus, what was that?” he finally managed to get something out of his mouth and with wide eyes looked at the other man’s arms. “And what has happened to you?” The one with which Richard had been hitting T1-LL20 looked normal despite the blood while the other, a twisted one, revealed a metallic surface with wires under the skin. 

“Saved our asses. Our future so far,” Richard barely managed to say and spat out more blood on T1-LL20’s face. “The hit shut him down momentarily, but in no time the fucker will wake up.” With trembling hands, he dug out keys from his pocket and threw them to Paul. “Here. Escape as far as you can. I’ll find you later.”

“What, you gotta be kidding me!” Paul yelled and scanned the cyborg. “You are still bleeding, for Christ’s sake! Plus, I’m not gonna leave you alone with that killer!”

“Don’t worry about me. I… I can manage,” Richard stammered and coughed his words and looks in conflict. ”You are more important. Save yourself.”

Paul frowned. He had no will to argue anymore so he just crouched next to his savior and couldn’t resist touching the metallic surface on the more injured arm. He gulped, but managed to hold himself together - questions had to be saved for later. “I’m not leaving you here. Not when you are like... this.” 

Without hesitation, Paul entwined his arm around Richard’s waist and lifted him up. Richard grunted - he was unable to hide the fact that even though he was a fit cyborg, the fierce battle had taken its toll on him. He was supposed to be the protector here, but now the roles had reversed.

“We have to get you to hospital,” Paul said with a firm voice and dragged the other man out of the house. He thanked God they had parked their car right in the front yard - to be honest, dragging miles a cyborg who had metal in his body wasn’t Paul’s ideal way of spending the evening.

“That’s not an option,” Richard said and slumped on the passenger seat when Paul was starting the roaring engine.

“Shut up and let me drive your precious fancy-ass Mercedes for once.”

~***~

_Regal Oak Motel - sleep tight and have a royal stay with us!_

Paul sneered at the sign - the grey block in the middle of nowhere was as far from regal as something could - false advertising at its best. Yet, if he had to choose between encountering T1-LL20 again tonight or staying in a motel that had seen its best days already, he didn’t have to think twice.

Almost three hours had passed driving dark Autobahns and smaller country roads. On purpose, Paul hadn’t taken the straightest road - even though the terminating machine after them had been shut down momentarily, no one knew when it would wake up. All the way Paul had been glancing at Richard - he had been eerily silent and more pallid than normally, but at least, he was breathing and the bleeding had stopped. Paul had lost count of how many times he had insisted they’d go to the hospital but Richard had only said that disinfectant, needle, and thread were just enough for him.

Now, finally daring to stop in the empty parking lot of their lousy accommodation for the night, Paul opened the door of the passenger’s side. “How are you feeling?”

Richard unfastened his seat belt, slowly making his way up. “I told you I can manage. I’m always a cyborg of my word.” He looked at Paul and tried to flash a smile, but grimaced instead. 

Grabbing the other man from his waist, Paul raised an eyebrow and asked: “You sure?”

“You just drove like a maniac on those narrow roads, so obviously, I got nauseous,” Richard quipped and smiled properly now. “You know I’m not a normal guy. Thanks to my enhancements, I heal much faster than you.” He withdrew from Paul’s touch and stood up, spreading his arms in victory. “See?”

“I still think it would have been a good idea to have a medical check,” Paul grunted, “but whatever you say.”

“Besides, what would your doctors have thought if they’d seen me? ‘Hey, I’m a cyborg guy from 2020’! I would be sent right into a mental health institute and then our plan would have been totally ruined!”

“And you said I’m stubborn,” Paul said with a sour expression and took steps towards the motel’s reception. “Wait here and don’t do anything stupid, ok?”

In the empty motel’s reception, a young woman sat by the counter, her eyes fixed on a magazine. She didn’t even bother to raise her head when the evening’s only customer entered.

“Guten Abend,” Paul said politely and waited for an answer that never came. He cleared his throat. “I’d like to book a room for two for one night. How much would that be?”

The lady didn’t respond anything - she just pointed at a sign next to the counter.

100 German marks - at least, it wasn’t a bad price, though from the lack of service, Paul would have wanted to ask for a discount. Too weary and still freaked out about what had happened during the day, he just happily paid.

“Tschüss,” he said and got no answer when the lady kept reading horoscopes from a gossip magazine and chewed a bubble gum that must have been in her mouth the whole day.

Paul got Richard from the parking lot and the receptionist’s disinterest was their luck - she didn’t bother to ask any questions about their future visitor who had dried blood on his face and a twisted arm.

They opened the door for room 912 and were welcomed by a smell familiar for places like this: an odor mixed with dust, mold, cigar smoke, and old sweat. The first thing Paul did was to check the bedlinen - at least, not signs of bedbugs. Paul threw his only so-called luggage, a plastic bag, on the bed and started changing his clothes - now finally after some evening shopping, he had other clothes than his dirty nightgown and a random leather jacket Richard had borrowed him last evening.

When Paul was back in the main room, Richard had sat down on a crooked chair and taken his shirt off, studying his injuries. With a crack, his arm was back in its position. Paul shivered a bit for the nasty sound, but politely averted his gaze, pretending to be interested in the stains on the wallpaper, but still stalked from the corner of his eye the muscular figure.

 _Damn, what a body,_ Paul noticed a thought appearing in his head and almost jumped up the roof. _Shit, stop that!_

“I need your help,” Richard said and took the disinfectant and tissue in his hand. “Can you come here? I’d need you to check the wounds in my back.”

With a shaky nod, Paul stepped closer and took the tissue in his hand. Gulping, he started cleaning the wounds - but instead of being bloody and moist from the fresh battle, they were completely dry. As Paul had learned the cyborg wasn’t so fond of the comments about his looks and physical problems, something else was on his mind. “Richard, why were you like that at Lilith’s place today?”

“What do you mean? We escaped from T1-LL20 eventually even though I miscalculated a couple of things,” the other man said and hissed a little. “Even though I’m not as sensitive as you guys, I can feel your touch a bit too much now.”

Paul blushed a bit. Deep in his thoughts, he had pressed one bigger wound a bit too hard. “S-sorry,” he mumbled and put the tissue aside. 

When Paul was still standing behind the cyborg, Richard turned around. “So, what was it you wanted to say?” he asked, uncertainty in his tone. “Are you... angry at me?”

The blue eyes Paul had admired right from the start bothered him a bit, but still, he didn’t avert his gaze. “Well, I wouldn’t say angry, but,” he started and ran a hand through his dirty short hair, “just that you can’t go and deadpan someone’s wife that her husband is... dead.”

“And why?” Richard asked purely innocently and kept looking at Paul with puppy eyes. “But that was the truth, right? Why wasn’t it allowed then? Should I have lied to her?”

“No, you shouldn’t have lied, but you just... blurted it out way too soon.” Paul took another chair and exhaled when he sat down. _What a hell of a day_. “You are not supposed to say that to a worried partner. I don’t know how it is in where you have come from, but at least here, it doesn’t work like that. People have feelings, some are more sensitive than others. Besides, these kinds of news are way too big to bomb immediately,” he said and looked out of the dirty window to the dark night. “Poor Lilith. She’s a sweet woman. She didn’t… deserve this.”

Like a dog being scolded, Richard looked at the floor. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “There’s still so much for me to learn. You promised me you’d teach me everything I’d need, but as the schedule got tighter than expected, we didn’t have time.” 

Still his eyes fixed on the window, Paul startled when his hand was grabbed.

“Sir, I truly am sorry,” Richard said, almost pleading. “I promise I’m more careful next time.”

Blinking his eyes, Paul cleared his throat and withdrew his hand even though it felt pleasant. “What a... strange man you are indeed,” Paul replied and stood up. He took a new tissue where he put disinfectant and continued what he had started. ”What are you anyway?”

Richard stiffened and gritted his teeth when he knew what was coming. ”I’m not… not so sure even myself.” He took a deep breath and continued: “But one thing I have to tell you. It’s something you told me before I was sent here. Something that I can’t get out of my head.”

“Okay, and what is that?” Paul asked, concentrating on the muscular body - how much he hated that subconscious adoration even though he managed to stay cool somehow. He was sure nothing would surprise him anymore on this bizarre night, so whatever was coming he was ready.

“That you and I were…” Richard started and turned around, “something you would call _lovers._ ”

Well, ready for maybe anything, but… 

The tissue dropped from Paul’s hand. With wide eyes, he backed up. “What… what did you just say?” He was sure he had misheard.

Richard averted his gaze on the ground again. “I’m sorry, maybe it’s too much for you for one day. Might be good to have some sleep. I’ll make a plan on how we should proceed tomorrow then, so you don’t have to worry.”

Clenching his trembling hands into fists, Paul couldn’t move. He just kept staring at the other man.

“Sir, are you alright?” Richard asked and furrowed. “Did I say something wrong again?”

Without answering, Paul turned his back and went to the tiniest bathroom possible to brush his teeth. Richard still tried to shout something to him, but Paul didn’t feel like being encountered with constant questions and answers. The small mirror was full of white stains so he could barely see his face through it: but without even the visual cue, he could feel how his eyes were heavy as lead. _Damn, how did you get so old so fast_? Paul thought by himself when he spat out the last remains of the bitter toothpaste.

When he came back he saw Richard watching the tv and sewing the big open wound on his arm, but they didn’t share a word when Paul retreated to the bedroom.

Simply too much for a single day.

Grabbing a blanket - that smelled of some cheap detergent - tightly around him, Paul forced to close his eyes. It was this weird sensation when you were totally exhausted, yet you couldn’t sleep - almost like you had drunk too much coffee during the day, and despite your body being ready for sleeping, your mind still raced. And indeed, his mind was such a racecourse - too much was swirling in his messy head, images so vivid he was sure someone would come out of the door and kill him this second.

What had happened? Just a day ago, he had been Paul Heiko Landers, an ordinary, single guy who was working in his friend’s cafe because he had been too lazy and scared to get a more ambitious life. Of course, there had been those desperate moments when he had played with the idea of being something _more_ ; achieving something big and glorious, being remembered in history. But this… it wasn’t exactly what he had ordered. All of what he had been, his _normal_ life, was so alien.

When Richard Z. Kruspe had walked - or literally, jumped - into his life, Paul wasn’t going to be that same ordinary man anymore.

While Paul squeezed his eyes tighter together, fidgeting on the hard bed, horrifying images formed in front of him: two bloody bodies of familiar people at his workplace. His poor friends - had police even found them? Were they still lying there, forgotten? Another image was the terminating machine's steady hand aiming a gun at his head, his red eyes totally focused on its only target. Those eyes and that crooked smirk would never disappear from Paul’s mind, he was sure of it. But who could he even tell about all this? No one would ever believe him.

 _Fuck_ , how twisted this all was - and _fuck_ , how assured Paul was that all of this was _his_ fault. It was logical: without him dragging his friends into this mess, Schneider and Ollie would still be alive, chatting casually at the cafe. Ollie would still in silence complain about the morning shifts being too early with Paul. 

And most importantly, without him, Lilith would still have her husband and the father of their child in her life instead of forced to escape from her home because of the unknown threat.

 _Fuck._ Tears gathered in Paul’s weary eyes. _What was he supposed to do now?_ At least there was no coming back - his life and _he_ had changed, way too quickly for a simple human being to comprehend. 

What was true and what wasn’t? Who could he trust? What if all of this that the cyborg guy had told him was actually true? And what if it wasn’t?

Was he some kind of a ruler, the hope for the future? But _how_ , in the hell? He wasn’t a naturally born leader, just a bored, lonely nobody from Berlin who hoped to find love, a purpose.

_Love. Lovers._

_You and I were..._ **_lovers_** _._

What had Richard meant?

It couldn’t be true - it simply just _couldn’t_. A cyborg and a human, in a relationship? Besides, what Paul had thus far learned about 2020, they had more important things to deal with than romantic feelings - staying alive, for example.

So, once again he faced the question: what was true and what wasn’t? Who could tell him?

 _Sigh._ He was a prisoner of his own life, his destiny.

With an annoyed grunt, Paul was sure he’d soon go insane if he’d keep pondering these things. He needed company - and there wasn’t much choice at the moment.

The blanket was tightly wrapped around Paul’s body when he stepped into the main room where Richard was sitting on a couch. Paul almost asked if the central heating system was broken - he was freezing. The cyborg was still topless though.

What was coming from the tv caught Paul’s interest, so he didn’t have a chance to say anything.

_“Lorenz Corporations: our hope for a better, sustainable future!” an interviewer, a man with an unnaturally stiff face, announced. He was standing next to a tall building with a familiar logo on it. “Tonight, we are having an exclusive interview with the founder of the company here, on their grounds. Our progress starts here!”_

_He turned and the camera backed up, showing two men instead of one now. The interviewer smiled, flashing his white teeth. “Flake Lorenz, what a pleasure to meet you, the mastermind!”_

At this point, Paul could hear Richard grunting, meant to himself: “Fuck, we don’t have much time… we have to find him. We must eliminate him, no matter what.”

_Flake fixed his eyeglasses and cleared his throat: “Hi…” He looked at the camera briefly, but then averted his gaze. “Nice that my little project has gained this much interest,” he mumbled._

_“Your name must be on every German's lips at the moment,” the interviewer made his statement with enthusiasm, ignoring the other man’s seemingly awkward aura. “How does that feel?”_

_The lanky scientist rubbed the nape of his neck and chuckled. “Well, maybe that’s a bit exaggerating to say that…”_

_The interviewer laughed a bit too loud like Lorenz would have quipped the best joke ever. “Now you are being too modest. A man who is giving all his effort to create a better future for us deserves to be celebrated!” he exclaimed, “and if some of our viewers didn’t know already, Lorenz here received an award for 'The Best New Innovation Of the Future’. So many companies are fighting over who can be involved and funding your project. Congratulations! Soon, we might see our guy from Berlin receiving a Nobel!”_

_“Well, we’ll see about that…”_

_“But Flake, could you reveal us something about the artificial intelligence project of yours?” the interviewer said and winked at the camera. “Or is it a total secret from us stupid everyday folk?”_

_“Well, I,” Flake mumbled, “I can’t unfortunately reveal so much. Company secrets, you know. I’m happy to announce that we are soon launching the test for the first model, though it still might take years for the manufacturing to start. But we’ll get there eventually.”_

_“As always, not everyone has been satisfied with the progress you are making,” the interviewer stated and pouted. “Have you heard about doctor Johanna Schmidt and her dissertation ‘The Future with humans and cyborgs - threats and possibilities’ where she predicts that if we are too fast there might be serious consequences?”_

_“Yes, I’ve heard about her work." Flake cleared his throat and continued: “Me and my team are doing everything to ensure that the artificial intelligence and our first model will be completely safe and in control.”_

_“Of course,” the interviewer agreed and flashed that trademark smile of his. “But as we have learned through history, there’s always someone who is against progress.”_

_“Yes I understand the concern and that’s why I want to assure everyone we know what we are doing.”_

_The interviewer nodded. “One last question. Could you reveal anything about your project to us curious people? Inspiration, anything?”_

_Flake stared at the emptiness and bit his lower lip before he replied: “My vision is that in… in the future, we will be freed from physical labor. Humans and machines will work together, cooperate. My vision is that the machines aren’t so different from us; in fact, some might call them even a new species of humans. We could say they will be our… doppelgangers.” Flake looked around like he had said something inappropriate. “Very much like humans, yeah,” he added with a voice barely audible._

_“Did you read from doctor Schmidt’s work that how she mentioned this ideal but also how Homo sapiens overtook Homo heidelbergensis? Could that happen again, a new species overthrowing us?”_

_“If I heard correctly you said ‘one last question’,” Flake deadpanned._

_The interviewer let out a burst of laughter. “Entschuldigung, this all is way too exciting!”_

_Clearing his throat, Flake continued: “But Johanna’s vision could never be possible. It’s exaggerating. This all is not in nature’s hands, we will be totally in control, as I’ve told you.”_

_“Okay, thank you, Lorenz! And to our next subject…”_

“Should you be sleeping?” Paul said over the noise of the tv.

Startling, Richard took the remote control in his hand and muted the apparatus. He quickly put a shirt on and turned around. “Are you ok, sir?” he asked when he saw the other man wrapped in the blanket, looking paler than during the day. “Are you sick, do you need something?”

Paul shook his head. “No.” For a brief second, the two men stared at each other, Richard’s eyes looking worried, yet curious. 

With a sigh, Paul approached his companion and sat on the sofa. “Can you just… hold me? Without any questions, please?”

Richard made space for Paul and when he sat there, the cyborg entwined his hand around the other man and stroked him gently. Paul was shaking a bit, but as Richard was scared of being too nosy, he didn’t say anything - no questions, as promised.

“What a hell of a day it’s been,” Paul said. Despite his earlier shyness, he now enjoyed the warmth of the other man - he was like a radiator. “I don’t… don’t understand anything. I’m so tired, yet I can’t sleep.”

“Trust me, I have no idea what is going on either,” Richard replied with a tiny burst of dry laughter. “I just have to go with the flow, and remember the most important: to protect you.”

Paul let his head rest on Richard’s shoulder and saw that Lorenz was still on the tv. It was quite tiring to see this man every single day, so Paul didn’t give the nerdy scientist any more attention - he took the remote control and shut the tv down. “I have no idea how I should proceed from this. I’m… I’m just so… confused.”

“What do you mean?” Richard asked and without noticing it himself, embraced the other man tighter.

After a brief silence, Paul tried to form something coherent from his messy thoughts: “Just yesterday, I was still an ordinary guy with a dull job, but at least my life was predictable and safe. Then without any prior warning, my whole apartment gets wrecked by a creature I don’t know and then you come and claim I’m some kind of hope for the future.” He shook his head. “I just refuse to believe it.”

“I know sir, it must sound weird to you,” Richard said with a calm voice, “but I swear there’s so much potential in you you don’t even know yet. I’ve seen things in the future with my own eyes and trust me, we all will need more people like you in the future.”

Paul raised his head and looked at the other man. Despite being injured earlier he already looked totally fine. A few faint scars were on his face, but no blood. “But what about you then? What is so special about…. us in the future?” The “no questions rule” had already vanished into thin air.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean… in the future… when you said…”

Richard withdrew from Paul and focused on the blank tv screen while his mind was somewhere else. “You want to know the truth?” he asked, looking at his hands. 

“Yes,” Paul said with a steady voice and leaned inward, “I want to know.”

“Very well then,” Richard said and positioned himself better on the sofa. “The funny thing is that I don’t even know myself everything, as my memory was completely wiped out.”

“Why?”

“Because I was shot in the head. You remember when the future you said it in the message?”

Paul nodded and Richard carried on: “I was almost fatally injured, but I got a second chance, so here I am.” He spread his arms and flashed a crooked smile. “But still, I don’t know precisely what I am. At least, I know that I’m stronger than any of you, I survived traveling through time, yet with all this that is going on here,” Richard said and pointed at his head, “I need a lot of your help still. Johanna said I was kinda rebooted.”

“Wait, Johanna who?”

“Johanna Schmidt, a scientist who we have to thank that I'm even alive anymore.”

“Ok, hold… hold on,” Paul stammered and with wide eyes, turned to look at Richard. “Johanna Schmidt? The one who was mentioned on the tv? What has she to do with any of this mess?”

Richard kept direct eye contact with Paul. “She will be one of your most important allies in the future.”

Paul slumped on the sofa and for a second hoped the soft material would just sink him in. “Holy motherfucking shit. What am I doing?” He wasn’t sure how much he could handle in one night - yet there still was one heating question. “What… what will I be in the future?”

“I’m sorry, you must be quite tired,” Richard said. “Maybe we’ll leave the rest for some other day, you need to rest, sir.”

“But, there’s still one more thing I… I need to know,” Paul said and gulped, turning his eyes back to Richard. “You said earlier… something about you and... me. It bothered me. What… what did you mean by it?”

“What do you mean, exactly, sir?”

“Is it… is it… true?” Paul asked and took a shaky breath. “That you and I were, umm, are…?”

Richard turned his gaze away and mumbled: “As I’ve said, everything I’ve told you is true.” His eyes back to Paul and a hint of red on his cheeks that was visible despite the dim lighting, he added: “So yes, you and me, we... share an intimate relationship in the future.”


End file.
